Opposites Don't Love
by Scykra
Summary: ... Or so Kuroki claims. Sayuki and Ryoma know better, and they're determined to get her with Tezuka. Does she have to be so STUBBORN though? Tezuka's ice cube-ness isn't helping either. Sequel/Continuation to Flip Side of the Coin. OCxTezuka OCxRyoma INDEFINITE HIATUS -Kai
1. Chapter 1

_I promised it, and I delivered... Finally winter break! I'm hoping to update lots over these two weeks. :D (Though I've failed at that so far, shh!)  
_

_**For those of you who haven't already, go read Flip Side of the Coin. Opposites Don't Love is a semi-sequel/continuation of that story, and if you don't read Flip Side of the Coin, you will get pretty lost trying to understand this.**_

_I swear, I will blow up if anyone asks me who the hell Sayuki or Kuroki or Suigo or Daichi or Kaze are. Or ANYONE. If you ask me who Ryoma is, you obviously have the wrong anime/manga._

_Now, without further ado... the first chapter of ODL._

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

WOOOOOOOOOOOOT! *does happy dance* Time for Kuro and Kuni to get some action finally...Ok that sounded wrong...MOVING ON PEOPLE!

~Ryuu

* * *

"It's beeeen one week since you looked at me~ Cocked your head to the side and said-"

"Kuroki, shut the fuck up."

"I'm just celebrating the fact that you and your _boyfriend_ starting going out a week ago," Kuroki grinned teasingly. Sayuki rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't sing," she grumbled. She opened the door to the classroom to find that Sakuno, Tomo, Daichi, and Ryoma waiting for them. Daichi and Sakuno were chatting away happily and Tomo was shrieking at Horio for some reason or another. Ryoma had been sitting there, arms folded behind his head, but he sat up with a smirk on his face when he saw Sayuki.

"What took so long?" he asked as the two girls walked up to the group. Kuroki snickered. Ryoma and Sayuki ignored her.

"Kuroki wouldn't shut up and it took me forever to drag her out of the high school," Sayuki answered, sitting down next to Ryoma. She smirked and added quietly, "She was yelling at Tezuka-senpai again..."

"I heard that!" Kuroki called, scowling at them over her lunch. "The flipping ice cube wouldn't stop saying, 'Hn,' again. Frustrating bastard..." Ryoma snickered, disguising it as a coughing fit, but Sayuki laughed openly.

"I'm telling you, one of these days..." She trailed off, shaking her head with a grin plastered on her face. "Kuroki, you're going to fall for him. Hard."

"Sayuki, that will never happen," Kuroki answered with an eye roll as she stabbed at her food. "We've been over this."

"You never know," Sayuki answered, shrugging. "After all..."

"Opposites attract," Ryoma finished for her, a small grin on his face as he stood up from the desk.

"And like I said, attraction doesn't mean love," Kuroki replied almost reflexively. "Opposites don't love."

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that," Ryoma muttered. Sayuki snickered and packed up her lunch, tossing her trash in the garbage can outside.

"I'm gonna go visit Momo-senpai, wanna come?" Ryoma asked.

"Nah, I'll stay here," Kuroki answered. "Sayuki will go with you... I mean, it's not like you guys already live together right?" she continued sarcastically. "You two love birds just go and spend every single second of your lives together."

"I think I'll do that," Sayuki chuckled, standing up and following Ryoma out the door. "Have fun with your afternoon classes with Tezuka-senpai~ I'll see you after school!"

"I'll see you in hell," Kuroki grumbled under her breath, scowling at the door.

"Well, you can't say that you didn't have it coming to you," Daichi said with a uncharacteristic smirk playing on his lips. Smirking and teasing people was more Suigo's thing... But he couldn't resist this one. "I mean, with how much you bugged them, with the Cinderella play and all..."

Sakuno giggled as Kuroki merely glared at him and stabbed her chopsticks at her food again.

* * *

Just one week ago, Ryoma Echizen had confessed to Sayuki. Of course, rumors were flying, people were shocked, either congratulating them or refusing to believe it. But the days went by, and as the two showed little signs that, yes, they did like each other, the gossip died down and life returned to normal.

Ryoma's fangirls were, of course, heart broken, and they still pulled petty little pranks on Sayuki, the usual being destroying her desks and belongings. Sayuki thought it was hilarious, but Ryoma was upset about it. That, and Sayuki's secret fanclub that had decided to reveal itself when the two started going out was also trying to sabotage Ryoma's stuff. But they had gone through _much_ worse and they didn't pay attention to the minor annoyances much.

When they had started dating, however, one surprising thing had happened. Sakuno and Daichi had become friends. Daichi, along with Suigo and Kaze, was one of Sayuki's childhood friends that originally had a crush on her. Because Sakuno and Daichi had suffered through the heart break at the same time, they empathized with each other and helped each other get over the pain. They still hadn't fully recovered from the shock and hurt, but their smiles were slowly returning to normal.

Other than that, life was pretty much as normal as it could get.

Oh, and Ryoma and Sayuki's new favorite pastime was annoying Kuroki. And Tezuka. And trying to get them together.

It was after school and Ryoma and Sayuki had just headed towards the tennis courts, discussing new Doubles tactics when they noticed that the old Seigaku regulars had decided to visit them.

"Yo, Ochibi!" Eiji called, grinning and waving. "Congratulations-nya! Momo told us all about it!" Ryoma and Sayuki exchanged exasperated looks. They were, of course, happy that everyone else was responding positively to them going out, but they had heard "Congrats" and "Congratulations" so many times over the past week that they were beginning to hate the word.

They suffered silently though another round as all of the Seigaku ex-regulars told them the same thing, and then they dispersed to help the newbies out on their technique.

"Neh, Furei-kun," Sayuki said, catching a boy on the shoulder. He had messy dark green hair and bright, forest green eyes. He was the younger brother of the fiancees of Kuroki's twin sisters and loved tennis, almost looking up to Ryoma as a hero as of last week. "Have you seen Kuroki around?"

"Kuroki-san?" he repeated, thinking. "Not since she came to visit during lunch..."

"Alright, thanks," Sayuki said, grinning and patting him on the shoulder. "Go ask Momo-senpai to help you out on your smashes, he's probably the best." Furei grinned and took the advice, running off to Momo.

She spotted Ryoma sitting next to Tezuka on the bench, the two of them apparently deep in a conversation about... something. Probably tennis related, considering that it was the only thing that the two ever thought about. A mischievous smirk spread over her face as she slowly snuck up from behind them.

"Ry-o-ma!" she grinned, pouncing on him. She hugged him around the neck and he gagged, nearly choking on the water he was drinking.

"What was that for!" he coughed out, wiping the water off of his chin. Sayuki merely stuck her tongue out at him and sat down next to him. She grabbed her water bottle and began to drink, ignoring her boyfriend's glares.

"Hey, Tezuka-senpai, have you seen Kuroki around?" she asked, resting her chin on Ryoma's shoulder. He sighed, giving up. Even before he had realized that he loved Sayuki, she had been impossible to deal with. "Last I saw her was at lunch... She was kinda cranky, I think."

"It's that time of month again," Tezuka answered. Sayuki sputtered, choking and gagging, spraying water every where. She turned to stare at him incredulously.

"_What_?"

Ryoma and Tezuka looked confused.

"Every month our English teacher gives us a project that's worth a lot of points," Tezuka explained. "For that week, we don't have any quizzes or tests, but the project usually takes a long time, along with the already assigned homework."

"O-oh," Sayuki coughed, laughing. "It's just that usually when you phrase it like that..." She saw Ryoma and Tezuka's clueless faces and she sighed, shaking her head. "Never mind."

"What did I miss?" Kuroki appeared from behind them, resting her arms on Sayuki's head.

"Nothing much," Sayuki said, still grinning. "Where were you?"

"Getting the supplies for that stupid project in English," Kuroki answered, scowling. "It's due tomorrow and I still have a bunch to do, so I can't stay long."

"Kuroki, you're such a procrastinator," Sayuki muttered, shaking her head.

"OI! Sayuki, Echizen, get over here! Coach Ryuuzaki wants to talk to us!" Momo called.

"Well, gotta go," Sayuki said, standing up. "See ya later, Kuro, Tezuka-senpai." She and Ryoma walked towards the other regulars, who were already lined up and were waiting for them. Kuroki took Sayuki's spot, stifling a yawn.

"Neh, Eis, could I copy what your math homework?" she asked lazily, leaning back on her arms as she watched the clouds move by.

"No," he answered, adjusting the power band on his wrist. Kuroki scowled as he stood up, grabbing his tennis racket as he headed back to the courts.

"Hey, hey, before you leave," Kuroki called. He paused and turned his head so that she could only see half of his face. "Teach me something in German!" Seemingly resigned to the task, knowing that she wouldn't leave him alone if he didn't, he turned around fully.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. These short lessons in German were infrequent and rather random. He taught her the random little phrases that she asked for when she asked, but she never learned how to actually speak the language. Instead, she used what she learned for rather random things, such as his nickname, Eis Wurfel.

"Black fox," she answered. He racked his brain, trying to remember his days in Germany. He hadn't learned very much German himself, since he had only stayed a short time, but if he remembered correctly, it was...

"Schwarz Fuchs," he answered. Without another word, he turned back to the tennis courts, apparently going to talk to the coach.

"Schwarz Fuchs," Kuroki repeated softly to herself. She sat there, contemplating the phrase for a moment, before standing up with a snort. "Sounds weird." She stretched, looking around at all the people either practicing tennis or instructing others how to.

"Now then... Time to go get that stupid project started."

* * *

Ryoma entered his room, throwing himself onto the bed. Tennis practice had been tiring today... Eiji and Oishi hadn't gone easy on them, and after that they had to go and help the less experienced players train. And then they had to go and practice themselves...

Reluctantly, he sat up and went to his desk, where he still had homework to do. Sighing, he sat down and opened his math textbook. Tomorrow would be the last day of the week... Finally, he'd get a break.

As he scratched away at the paper, his mind wandered and wondered what Sayuki was doing at the moment. He had never thought about it before, but what _did_ Sayuki do when she wasn't hanging out with their group? His hand stopped moving for a moment as he considered how to set up the next equation, and then he went back to writing.

She couldn't be doing homework, because she always, _always_ finished it at school, and how she did it was beyond him. After he realized that he had been sitting there doing nothing for five minutes as he wondered what Sayuki was doing, he decided that he would simply ask her after he finished his homework.

An hour passed and he finally dropped his pencil, stretching his arms. Somewhere in the middle, Karupin had entered his room and jumped onto his bed. The cat meowed and followed him out of his room and into Sayuki's, where he found her rolling around on her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest. He sweat dropped. Apparently, this was something that she did when she was bored... She stopped rolling around to sit up and grin at him.

"Think fast!" She threw the pillow at him, which he caught on reflex, blinking in surprise. She scowled.

"I can _never_ get something to hit you," she grumbled. "Stupid reflexes..." He smirked, tossing the pillow back and going to sit beside her on the bed.

"You're the one who throws others over your shoulder when surprised," he answered. She stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled, punching her playfully.

"If you're so bored that you roll around on your bed for hours, maybe you should actually leave your homework to do at home," he said, snatching the pillow from her.

"Give it back!" Sayuki said with a pout, reaching for it as he held it above her head. He grinned, his new height making him feel smug. Originally, he had been the same height as Sayuki, but he had begun to go through his growth spurts and he was already half a head taller than her. Scowling, she pounced on him and they fell off the bed, rolling around on the ground as they struggled for possession of the pillow.

Karupin watched on in a disinterested manner, taking over the bed.

"I... win!" Sayuki said triumphantly, holding the pillow over her head. She was straddling Ryoma and they were both out of breath and laughing. "Revenge is mine!" She went on to beat him with the pillow.

"Argh, OK, sorry!" he said, laughing as he tried to defend himself from her attacks. She finally relented, getting up and throwing the pillow at him one last time for good measure. This time he let it hit him.

"To answer your question," Sayuki said, sitting back on the bed next to Karupin, "I _do _have things to do other than homework and rolling around, so I still prefer to finish everything at school."

"Such as?" Ryoma asked, dropping the pillow on the bed. Sayuki nodded over towards the desk, and he saw several drawings scattered on its surface. He raised an eyebrow.

"I know you like drawing, but you sure spend a lot of time on it," he said, walking over to see them more clearly. Sayuki grinned.

"Unlike you, I have hobbies other than playing tennis," she replied. "Other than drawing, I also get to annoy Kuroki while she's doing homework," she said with a mischievous smile, holding up her cell phone. "You should see some of the texts I get from her. Half of them are ranting about homework and how Tezuka-senpai won't help her on it and the other half are just plain random." Ryoma smirked.

"Heh~ She's doing that project now right?" he said, taking the phone and scrolling through the texts, stifling a laugh at a few of them. He tossed the phone back and she caught it single-handed. They shared an evil smile.

"Let's bug her, neh?"

* * *

Kuroki almost smashed her phone when she heard it vibrate against the library's table yet again. Instead, she settled for tightening her grip on the pencil in her hand and snatching her phone to see what Sayuki had sent her.

_Kuroki~ I'm going to be sending you random texts every five minutes if you still haven't figured that out from my last ten texts. :D_

_WORLD IS MINE_

_Have fun working on your project and say hi to Tezuka-senpai for me!_

Kuroki scowled, not bothering to ask how she knew that Tezuka was sitting beside her, eying her warily and hoping that she wasn't going to break anything. She punched a reply back to Sayuki (_LEAVE. ME. ALONE._) and turned off her phone.

"This is ridiculous," Kuroki grumbled, looking once more at the project requirements sheet. "We have to read one of the following books, summarize it, write a review of it, illustrate the main points, and then write an alternate ending for it..." She sighed and glared at the list of things to do. "At least I already finished everything else. Math homework was a pain to do though..."

"You should've at least read the book," Tezuka said, scribbling a few more words in his summary. Other than the review, he would be finished. Kuroki, on the other hand, had barely started... She looked at him, blinking in surprise as if to say 'Did you just say something?'

"Oh, I finished reading it a few weeks ago," Kuroki answered offhandedly, rummaging through her backpack for a clean sheet of paper. This time it was Tezuka blinking in surprise.

"Heh, why so shocked?" Kuroki grinned, twirling a pencil in her hand as she set to work. "I have to do _something_ when I'm not annoying my buddies, right? Sayuki draws and I read. We all have our little hobbies..." With that, she stopped talking, devoting all of her attention to the project.

Half an hour passed and Tezuka finished his project, opting to stay and help Kuroki with her work so long as she didn't ask to copy. Finally, Kuroki dropped her pencil for a short break.

"Ugh, my fingers are cramping up," she grumbled, flexing her fingers. She sighed then grinned at Tezuka. "Thanks for helping, Ice Cube. I should be done in about another hour or so..."

"How are you finished so quickly?" he asked, looking over her work. Indeed, all of the illustrations were finished and colored, the review was done, and the summary half finished. "It should have taken quite some time to do all this, but you finished in a mere thirty minutes." Kuroki snorted.

"Wasn't that hard, for once," she said, stretching her arms. "I already finished the book, so there's half the work done. I'm the one who taught Sayuki how to draw, so that part was super easy. Reviews, you just make up a bunch of crap saying if you liked it or not and which parts you thought sucked and were awesome. And summary..." She tapped her head with a grin. "Take a four hundred page book and shorten it down to three pages. That's all there is to it." She sighed, rubbing her right hand absent mindedly. "It's the alternate ending thing that'll take a while, I think. I don't have any idea how I'd change it."

"Hn," Tezuka said, quite impressed. "I was thinking that you'd be working into the night because of your laziness, but I suppose I was proven wrong."

"When you're a procrastinator like me, you learn to cram hard and fast," Kuroki answered with a half-smile. It was closer to a genuine grin than her smirks and mischievous grins, but it quickly turned into a frown. "Ya know, if you were anyone else, you probably could have twisted that last line very badly."

"Hn... Good thing I'm not anybody else then," Tezuka answered. Her lopsided smile was back as she picked up her pencil.

"One thing before I get back to work," Kuroki said, shuffling the papers as she searched for the last page of her summary so that she could continue it. "Teach me one more thing in German."

"What do you want to know?" Tezuka asked, watching her twitch the pencil back and forth as she contemplated what to write next.

"... Heart," she answered, staring resolutely at her paper. After another moment's consideration, she began to write.

"Herz," Tezuka answered. He watched her continue to write, not showing that she had heard him in any way.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked finally as she turned the page to the back so that she could continue writing.

"Hm?" she said, not really paying attention. She was almost done... Just another paragraph or two and she could move on to the alternate ending.

"Why did you want to know black fox and heart?" he asked. She glanced up at him for a moment before turning her eyes back to her paper.

"Think about it," she said, continuing to scribble. "My name... Kokoro Kuroki."

Tezuka thought about it. Kokoro... Meant heart, so that explained why she wanted to know herz. Kuroki... Kuro? Kuro was black... Kuroki... Ki... Fox... Kitsune?

"Black Fox Heart?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Kuroki grinned at him.

"Yup," she answered, pushing away her papers. "Finally finished the summary," she mumbled to herself. "My full name is Kokoro Kuro Kitsune... Put in Western order, that's Black Fox Heart. Well," she said thoughtfully, "that's what it says on my birth certificate. But Sayuki, Akai, and Aoiri have always called me Kuroki."

"... And your parents?" he asked cautiously. Now that he thought about it, she had never mentioned any of her family members other than her sisters, and he was more than aware that it might be a touchy topic.

"Oh, them?" she said nonchalantly, thinking about what to write for the alternate ending. "They travel a _lot_. Last they wrote to me, they were in Hong Kong. I think they were going to some place in England..."

"I... see," Tezuka answered. Kuroki glanced up for a moment with a grin on her face.

"So that's why I was raised by my crazy sisters for most of my life," she continued. "Eh, I don't mind because they write every week and they usually come visit for a couple of weeks. It's always crazy when they're staying... Now please shut up and stop asking questions because I need to finish this."

Tezuka stayed silent unless Kuroki asked a question, and it was only a quarter of an hour later that Kuroki finally turned on her phone and replied to all of Sayuki's texts.

* * *

Sayuki sat on her bed, wondering what to do. Kuroki had stopped replying to her texts and she presumed that her friend had turned off her phone. Ryoma was outside (reluctantly) playing tennis with his father. Daichi, Kaze, and Suigo were all busy with their own things. Daichi was supposedly helping Suigo's parents, who were doctors (Daichi wanted to be a doctor in the future), Kaze's sister, who lived in Osaka, was visiting, and Suigo... He hadn't specifically said what he was doing, but Sayuki guessed that he was planning another prank.

She sighed and grabbed her pillow, preparing herself for another round of aimlessly rolling back and forth when her phone rang. She grinned, threw her pillow aside, and flipped the phone open. Kuroki had finally decided to text her back...

_Gawd u r so annoying. I FINALLY finished the damn project... Jesus Christ it took forever._

_In the car rite now. Aoi's driving, Aka's blasting music. We're taking Ice home cuz I figured I owed him for helping me out._

_So what's going on over there?_

Sayuki quickly summarized what everyone was doing and complained about her boredom, before an idea struck her. She added a few more lines and hit send.

_Ryo's playing tennis with Nanjirou-san. You'd figure that he'd be sick of it by now, but nah, tennis is his life and his dad dragged him out. Dai's at Sui's place, Kaz is w/ his sis, and Sui is probably cooking up another plan to piss off our teachers. Man, that was priceless..._

_I. AM. SO. BORED._

_Aha, you and Tezuka-senpai? I knew something was going on... :3_

_BTW, do you know Kikumaru-senpai's number? I was planning on crashing the cafe that they work at but IDK their shift times._

Recently, Oishi, Eiji, and Momo had begun to part-time at a cafe. At first they said it was to raise money for a welcome party for Sayuki and Kuroki, but seeing as the two had been here for a while now, nobody was really sure why they were working there. They refused to say, but apparently most of the other ex-regulars knew.

Sayuki had just picked up her pillow once more when Ryoma stumbled into her room, looking very annoyed.

"What's up?" she asked, hopping off the bed to look at him better. He appeared tired, which was to be expected, but she still had no idea why he looked so pissed off. The anger disappeared a little when he saw her, though.

"Nothing, the old man was just being exceptionally annoying today," he answered. "Your phone is ringing," he added, nodding over to her cell phone. She skipped over to pick it up and read Kuroki's reply.

_Draw. That always makes u feel better._

_And gawd dammit, I told u, there is NOTHING happening between us. Eis pisses me off, honestly. Him and his stupid 'hn'..._

_Cat Boy? I'll have to check w/ Apple... I'll send Kitty's # in a few._

Kuroki had nicknames for almost everybody in their little circle. Eiji, with whom she had a rival-like relationship with, she called Kitty Boy (and in turn, he called her Weasel Girl), and Apple referred to Fuji. Yuuta was known as Little Apple...

She is very creative with her nicknaming.

"Why do you need Kikumaru-senpai's number?" Ryoma asked, reading over her shoulder.

"Wanted to visit that cafe again but I dunno what times they work at," Sayuki answered, dropping the phone on her bed without bothering to reply. "Ugh... I would draw, but I have no idea what..."

"Don't ask me," Ryoma said, a small smirk on his face. "I'd have no idea." Sayuki rolled her eyes.

"I know, I wouldn't have bothered to ask," she answered, sitting down at her desk as she searched for a sharp pencil. "Tennis is like the only thing you're good for." Ryoma frowned at the insult.

"Hey," he murmured, putting his hands on the desk so that he had Sayuki trapped between them. "I'm good at other things too..." He leaned down, nuzzling her neck, his lips pressed against her skin, slowly making his way up...

"I know you are," Sayuki chuckled, turning slightly so that she could reach and pat him on the head. Ryoma scowled and pulled back and Sayuki couldn't help but grin at the annoyance on his face.

"Couldn't resist, sorry," she murmured, a smirk on her face, as she tilted her face upwards. Ryoma smirked and leaned down again, this time successfully pressing his lips to her.

And then the phone started ringing.

"Oh God _dammit_," Ryoma growled, pulling away. Sayuki laughed, deftly catching the phone when he tossed it to her. He sat down on the bed and she could've sworn that he was sulking. She snickered and he scowled, folding his arms over his chest, waiting impatiently as she checked Kuroki's reply.

_Got his number, put it at the end. Just dropped off Ice, heading home. Prob. gonna be online in a few, get on the comp if u can._

Sayuki grinned, setting her phone aside on her desk and walking over to Ryoma.

"And? What did she say?" he asked, scooting over so that she would have room.

"She got his number, I'll call him later," she said, waving it aside. "She wants me online in a few minutes." She smirked. "You know, it's hilarious when you sulk."

Ryoma growled and tackled her.

* * *

Kuroki snickered slightly to herself as she reread Fuji's message to her. Fuji had mentioned an inside joke between them in his text. She giggled, jumping into the rolling chair as it spun, grabbing the table to stop her from crashing into the wall. Humming a cheerful little tune to herself, she grabbed the mouse connected to her laptop, tapping her fingers impatiently as she waited for the laptop to turn on.

She had just finished typing her password to log onto her IM account when Akai poked her head around the door, grinning at her.

"Youngest sister, the kid left some of his stuff in Aoiri's car," she said gleefully, waving around several sheets of paper. Kuroki banged her head on the desk.

"You're kidding me right."

"Nah, and oh!" Akai smirked as she read the notes written on the papers. "I think these are the notes you took for him... in English class."

"... I _hate_ that class..."

* * *

Tezuka frowned as he rummaged around his backpack, searching for his English notes. He had been checking over his project and had realized that he had left a part blank because he hadn't been sure of the translation. He was sure that the notes he needed had been on those notes that Kuroki had written for him.

"Kunimitsu! Your classmates are here again!" He glanced up from his backpack and decided to go downstairs to see who it was.

"It's those girls that were visiting while you were sick," his mother explained. He nodded and went to the door and found a very pissed-off looking Kuroki glaring back at him.

"These," she said, shoving the papers into his hand. He blinked and took them and realized that they were the notes that he had been looking for.

"You left them on the car," she grumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Helluva class... Always problems with English." She shook her head, muttering profanities under her breath in different languages. Tezuka was sure that they would have been terrifying if he had understood them.

"Thank you," he said. She waved off his thanks, turning back to the car that her sister was waiting in.

"See you at school tomorrow," she called over her shoulder. He nodded, and she turned back around, slouching as she made her way back to the car.

He shut the door, and as he read over the notes on his way back up the stairs, he noticed that Kuroki had scrawled another note at the bottom of the page.

_Sayuki wants to visit Kitty's cafe again. Saturday 10:00 AM_

_-Kuroki_

* * *

It was morning... And Ryoma was sleeping in, as always. Sayuki crept silently into his room, deviously sneaking towards his bed. An unmistakably evil smirk was on her face as she crawled onto the bed, making the bed dip with her weight. Mumbling in his sleep, Ryoma rolled around drowsily, eyes half open.

"HOLY SHIT, SAYUKI!" he yelped, falling out of his bed as Sayuki burst out into laughter. She rolled off the other side of the bed, struggling to regain her breath as Ryoma stood up slowly, still shaking off the clutches of sleep and recovering from his fall.

"Ugh, not funny, Sayuki," he mumbled, shaking his head as he glared at Sayuki gasping for breath on the floor. She merely grinned at him and got to her feet.

"It got you to wake up, didn't it?" she smirked. "And I got a laugh out of it. Win-win!" she sang as she skipped out of his room.

"For you," he muttered, smiling despite his annoyance with the method with which she had decided to wake him up this morning. Sayuki's cheerfulness was contagious... And he much preferred the hyper morning Sayuki over the grumpy one.

He sighed as his thoughts went forward to the next day. He, Sayuki, and Kuroki would be going to the cafe again, although Kuroki swore that she was going to ditch them in the middle of it. She had teased them endlessly about them going out on their first date, but Ryoma and Sayuki were the types who could care less about what to call their outings. Dates, gatherings, in the end, it was all the same. After all, they did spend most of their time with each other, as Kuroki had said. Not to say that they didn't enjoy every second of it, but more or less time made no difference to them.

When he sat down at the table, he noticed Sayuki was still smirking and his first thought was that she was still snickering about his reaction this morning. He scowled and she only laughed again.

"Don't worry, I stopped laughing at you a few minutes ago," she said, knowing why he was disgruntled without him asking. Her strange eyes were the reason for that... She had spent enough time _being_ him to know how he felt most of the time. "I'm happy cause Kuroki said she invited Tezuka-senpai to come with us tomorrow." Ryoma found himself smirking as well.

"Heh, and she denies that she likes him," he mumbled, shaking his head as he began to eat. "Denial can only get you so far..."

"Far enough, seeing as how it took you so long to realize that you liked me," Sayuki teased. He glared at her and she merely snickered.

"Well, I suppose she's not the only one in denial," Sayuki said thoughtfully. "After all, Tezuka-senpai probably still only sees her as a classmate."

"An annoying classmate that he hangs out with a lot and does homework with," Ryoma continued. He paused, then added, "that isn't a fangirl."

"That's always a plus," Sayuki grinned.

* * *

Kuroki was half asleep, chin resting in her hand, when her English teacher suddenly clapped his hands, making the class settle down.

"Turn in your projects at the front of the room," he said. Kuroki groaned, not wanting to move. She looked around for someone to be her gopher.

"Ice," she whined, reaching over diagonally to grab the corner of his desk. "Could you turn mine in for me?" He looked at her strangely, raising an eyebrow.

"It's only five steps away," he answered, and he got up to turn in his project. Kuroki scowled but got up and placed her own on the desk.

"Time to get out your textbooks!" her teacher said cheerfully as everyone returned to their seats. "It's your favorite! Read the story on page 156 and summarize it... using English, please." Everyone groaned in annoyance... except for Tezuka. Though he did look rather annoyed (as annoyed as he _can_ get). They had been reading and summarizing for the entire week...

"At least it was better than when he made us do those stupid vocab maps," Kuroki grumbled. "My God, that was torture..."

"I'd say that it was rather fun, actually." Kuroki blinked and turned around in surprise.

"Yukina," she said, blinking. "I forgot you sat behind me... Why didn't I get _you_ to turn in my stuff for me?" she muttered.

"English is my favorite class," Yukina said, absently turning a page in her text book. "After art." Kuroki stared at her incredulously.

"Only _you_ would think that this class is fun," Kuroki sighed, sounding rather exasperated. "The homework is crazy and the classwork is boring..."

"Well, many people have described me using the word 'crazy,'" Yukina said coolly, turning another page. "So I wouldn't be surprised."

"Whatever," Kuroki muttered, scanning the page. She found a few words she didn't know... With a sniff of annoyance, she turned to the back of the textbook to look them up in the glossary. When she found that the words weren't there, she finally turned back around to Yukina.

"What's this word mea... You finished." It came out as a statement rather than a question, but it was full of disbelief nevertheless. Yukina merely smiled at her.

"Well, yes," she answered, putting away her textbook as she pulled out her math binder. "That word is 'miffed'... Annoyed, like you."

"What're you doing with your math stuff?" Kuroki asked, ignoring the last statement. "You already finished your homework..."

"That's because we have a test today," Yukina answered brightly. "I have to study because math is my worst subject. Carry on with your summary."

"Right, te... WE HAVE A TEST TODAY!"

* * *

"Kuroki, you look even more pissed than you were yesterday," Sayuki said, blinking as she walked with her best friend up to Seigaku's rooftop, where Ryoma and Momo were waiting. "What's up?"

"Just had a math test that I forgot about," Kuroki grumbled. Sayuki laughed and Kuroki glared at her.

"Well, if it's just math, that's your best subject right?" Sayuki said, frowning at her friend's anger. "It shouldn't have been a problem even if you didn't study."

"It was geometry crap," Kuroki scowled. "I hate proofs..."

"Tezuka-senpai didn't remind you?" Sayuki asked cautiously as they opened the door to the rooftop. Ryoma and Momo glanced up and immediately went back to eating their food when they saw Kuroki's face. An angry Kuroki is best avoided unless your name is Saiki Sayuki and you have the ability to change your personality according to a person's eye color.

"No," Kuroki said, blinking. "... He _knew_ I forgot too," she growled. "I usually complain about tests the day before and I didn't yesterday... He noticed, I know. Bastard..."

"Well, you can complain to him later," Sayuki grinned. "Now c'mon... You're scaring Momo-senpai. Take off your scary face."

Kuroki's scowl was immediately replaced by a sweet and pleasant smile. Momo wasn't sure which one was worse. Her happy smile was far too similar to her smirk... And her smirks never ended in good things.

"Momo, check the back of your shirt," Kuroki said gleefully. Momo blinked and turned around, ripping a piece of paper that had been taped to the back of his shirt. Ryoma had never seen someone's expression change so many times so quickly. Momo frowned, jaw dropped, and then had an expression of pure anger.

"I'm going to kill that Suigo brat," he snarled. Sayuki glanced at what the paper said and she burst out laughing, quickly followed by Kuroki and Ryoma.

In Suigo's unique messy scrawl were the words, "The best part about being in the tennis club... The locker rooms... So many hot guys changing."

* * *

"Tezuka Kunimitsu. We were together for a whole 3 hours yesterday and you didn't find time to inform me that there was a _test_ today?" Kuroki scowled, arms crossed, hugging a text book to her chest. School had just ended for the week and she had refused to let him walk away without bugging him first.

"... What?" Tezuka said, turning around. He had just been talking with Oishi about a problem on the math test (something that Kuroki found annoyingly ironic) and hadn't been paying attention to her. Kuroki glared at him.

"Eis Wurfel, _why_ didn't you tell me we had a test today?" she asked.

"It is your own responsibility to study for such things," he answered calmly, not fazed in the slightest by the daggers she was glaring at him. With a snort, she, Oishi, and Tezuka began walking again, making their way to Seigaku's.

"Knew you would come up with some wise-ass shit like that... Fucking Ice Cube," she muttered, rolling her eyes. Tezuka felt that oh-so-very-rare twinge of mischief. He had to admit, an angry Kuroki was an amusing one, and the one thing that made her the most annoyed...

"Hn," he goaded. As expected, she whirled around, looking like she could commit murder with her bare hands.

"You and your fucking 'Hn' can go to hell!" she yelled, mimicking his "Hn" in an almost uncanny fashion. "What the hell does that even fucking mean, anyways?"

"... Hn," Tezuka said once more, resisting the urge to smirk. She looked absolutely furious now, and Oishi glanced back and forth nervously between the two. The hallways were empty of people, but had there been students, those two would have been the center of attention.

"THAT. IS. IT!" Kuroki snarled. She chucked the textbook she had been holding violently at his head, and with reflexes born only through years of tennis practice, he caught it in a single hand. This time the smirk that spread over his face couldn't be resisted.

"God _DAMMIT_," Kuroki growled, storming off. She hadn't bothered to stay behind to retrieve her book... The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Tezuka stared at the book for a moment, then resisted the urge to laugh. Oishi watched him warily.

"Tezuka... Were you... _teasing_ her?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Tezuka looked up at his friend.

"Maybe," he answered. "I honestly wouldn't know."

* * *

"Fucking went to his house to deliver the fucking notes for him when he was down with his fucking fever and he fucking doesn't tell me there was a fucking TEST." Kuroki was still extremely 'miffed' despite that an hour had passed. Ryoma inched away from her cautiously, but Sayuki only smirked. Ryoma frowned. Sayuki smirked a lot, but when she looked _that_ evil, then she had to be...

Negative.

Ryoma resisted the urge to bang his head on the nearest wall. 'Negative' Sayuki still had many sides that he hadn't met and he would very much like it to stay that way. So far he had seen the angry one, the sarcastically evil one, and the depressed one... What would this one be like?

"Wow~" she said in mock amazement. "Tezuka-senpai and the word 'fuck' used that many times in the same sentence? Didn't know you were that... wild, Kuro."

Ryoma wanted to run away. This one was _perverted_. A perverted Sayuki and a pissed off Kuroki. Definitely not the best people to be around. Especially when they were in the same room... or whatever, seeing as they were walking home.

"I'm... gonna go on ahead," he muttered quickly, and then he ran ahead. Best get away while he could... He doubted that he could survive around those two.

"God dammit, Sayuki, I _really_ don't need your sarcasm right now," Kuroki growled, not showing the slightest indication that she had realized that Ryoma had left. Sayuki merely shrugged nonchalantly.

"So you and Tezuka-senpai still aren't going out?" she asked, grinning at her friend.

"For the _last_ time, NO!" Kuroki yelled. "_Why_ do you keep asking that!"

"You know what they say," Sayuki said, shrugging. "Opposites attract." She had repeated those two words so many times in the past week that she had lost count...

"And yet again," Kuroki growled, "attraction does not mean love. It could mean friendship or having to be stuck together in all the classes like two fucking magnets that don't want to be together but end up that way anyways."

"... Fucking magnets," Sayuki said thoughtfully. "Interesting mental image right there."

"Ugh," Kuroki muttered, face palming. "Mental note to self: stop using the words 'fuck' and 'screw' around Sayuki... especially while she's in Negative-Perverted mode."

Sayuki only grinned and skipped ahead.

* * *

Sayuki walked into the kitchen, the grin on her face immediately wiped off when she saw Ryoma. He stared back at her like a deer caught in the headlights.

He had been licking his thumb, his other hand reaching inside the cookie jar...

"Ryoma... is that my cookie stash?" Sayuki asked slowly.

"... Your what?"

"Where did you find that jar?"

"... Behind the fridge?"

They stared at each other silently for a moment. And then:

"RYOMA, YOU _BASTARD!" _She leaped at him, and he reflexively stood up, taking a step back so that she flew in front of him. There was a crash...

"Ow... Dammit," Sayuki mumbled, rubbing her head. Ryoma tentatively offered a hand to her, but she only glared at him and got up by herself. On her way out the kitchen, she swiped the cookie jar and took it with her upstairs.

Ryoma frowned. Even if he had nicked some of her cookies, and really, she should've hidden them better, normally Sayuki wouldn't have been that angry. Unless she was still negative...? But she had seemed perfectly fine when she had walked in. Then something registered in his mind and he flew into a panic.

Sayuki had gone upstairs. With the cookies. Meaning that she intended to eat them. And the equation for pure chaos of loss of sanity is Sayuki+sugar+caffeine... And if she was still negative... Ryoma suddenly remembered the first time he had encountered a hyper Sayuki, and had asked Kuroki a question.

"What's her 'negative' side like when she's hyper?"

"... You don't wanna know."

She had quickly changed the topic after that. Kuroki usually avoided topics only if she _really_ didn't want to talk about it because the answer would probably hurt someone or if she didn't want to think about it. And Kuroki was pretty freaking scary, so if she didn't want to talk about a hyper negative Sayuki...

"Damn," he swore under his breath, face palming. "I'm so screwed."

* * *

"... What the fuck, Ryoma." Kuroki was a moment away from banging her head on the wall. "Alright, so lemme get this straight. You _ate_ her _cookies_."

"I didn't know they were hers!" Ryoma yelled defensively into the phone. Sayuki had shut herself in the room, presumably eating her cookies, and hadn't left it since. He had called Kuroki for advice, seeing as she was the only one who had encountered a hyper negative Sayuki... "And she saw me eating the cookies and tackled me. After that she went negative, grabbed the cookies, and locked herself in her room."

"... Hyper negative Sayuki. Kill me now."

"Actually, I can't really kill you over the phone, but you can tell me how to deal with her," Ryoma said quickly, nervous from the serious tone of her voice. "Don't kill yourself either... I'm gonna need someone to suffer through this with me." He heard a resigned sigh from the other end of the phone.

"Alright, alright," Kuroki mumbled. "The only time I ever saw negative Sayuki was after the three little birds," here, it took Ryoma a moment to remember that she was referring to Suigo, Daichi, and Kaze, "confessed to Sayuki and she went all depressed and stuff. Normally, people gorge themselves on 'happy food', which is ice cream and stuff..."

"Oh." Well. That made sense. Ryoma hesitated before asking the next question. "How bad was it? Did the 'happy food' work?"

"Eh..." Kuroki sounded sheepish. "I guess it did, in a sense... But you know how Sayuki's really sadistic right? I don't know if it was because she was in her sadistic negative or something else, but..." She trailed off, but Ryoma understood.

"She was like a sadist on steroids," he finished for her. "So she caused a bunch of pain and so was happy..."

"Pretty much," Kuroki answered. "But you know how Sayuki, Suigo, and I all like pranking others right? Think of it more like... All three of us working together. And then... Oh, I don't know, throw Kitty Boy into the mix and maybe you'll have something close to a hypergative Sayuki."

"... Hypergative?"

"Got tired of saying 'hyper negative,'" Kuroki sighed. "In any case, a hypergative Sayuki suffers from a _severe_ case of schadenfreude."

"... What the hell is shaden... whatever it was?"

"It's a word that the bastard Eis Wurfel taught me," Kuroki said, a bit of anger returning in her voice at the mention of Tezuka. "It's an English and German word. It means 'deriving pleasure from the pain of others.'" Ryoma snorted.

"Yeah... I can definitely see a hypergative Sayuki like that." Something occurred to him as he was contemplating the horror of hypergative Sayuki. "How the hell did she get negative anyways? She looked normal when she walked in."

"... Well you say that she crashed right..."

Ryoma understood where she was going with this.

"You don't think...?"

Kuroki sighed. "I'll have her check in with Suigo's parents... But yeah, I'm thinking that when she crashed, something messed up and she's stuck in negative..."

"... Shit."

* * *

_Well that's a great way to start things off. :D_

_I was going to say a lot of stuff and then I forgot... Oh yeah. ODL's chapters are going to be _much_ longer than FSC's, so the wait for updates will be longer, but hopefully worth it._

_Also, the WORLD IS MINE in Sayuki's text is, yes, you guessed it, a reference to the very epic Vocaloid song "World is Mine." I love Vocaloids. :D_

_Yes I did just make up the word hypergative. Get used to it. Insert it into your mental dictionary. It will be used in the future._

_Favorite quote right now: It's that time of month again. xD Oh, the things I make Tezuka say..._

_I'm so sick of this chapter. I don't want to look at it again. I've read it at least 7 times over to check for mistakes. It's just so... LONG. And it gets quite old after a while and I get sloppy in my reading and then I have to go back and BLEH. So please disregard any errors you might find in here. This applies to all future chapters too...  
_

_Well, happy holidays y'all! I'm thinking of making a Christmas special? If I have time, ha ha, still writing the regular ODL. I might also put up the Halloween special I did. I didn't put it up earlier because it had some spoilers, but I think it'd be safe to put up now. Opinions?_

_Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	2. Chapter 1 and a Half: Halloween Special

_So um... Months late, but here's the Halloween special (Hallospe)?_

_Has close to nothing to do with the original plotline. The spoilers in here are minuscule. The only thing I can think of is the Inui's-food-kills-hyperness thing, which first appears in chapter 3 of ODL if I remember correctly. And that's... self-explanitory._

_In a few words, Sayuki gets Hyper (with a capital H) and Kuroki likes candy._

_Costumes of Tezuka and Kuroki are courtesy of Ryuu. She found them on the internet and wrote up the descriptions. :D There actually is a picture on the internet that shows Tezuka in the costume described here. xD_

_If Sayuki says something that looks like "-!" or "?" or something along those lines, it's because her hyper-superspeak makes the words too long and they don't show up in fanfiction. I probably missed it during editing or something.  
_

_I will babble more after the chapter. So for now..._

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

_By the way, Ryuu says hi. Hi as in "I just got back from China the day right before school restarted so I'm about to die from jet lag and homework right now". That kind of hi._

_You know. Your average, everyday kind of hi.  
_

**

* * *

Halloween Special**  
_Time Frame: After FSC, Middle of ODL_

Contrary to what most people would think, Kuroki hates Halloween.

Okay, so sure, she loves the idea of free candy. Who wouldn't? She doesn't give a damn that she's "too old" to be trick-or-treating, because she will flip off anyone that will tell her that. People are giving out candy for free, and nothing will stop her from taking at least three handfuls from each person.

The costume part isn't a problem either. Dressing up is one of the best parts of Halloween. And hey, when you're awesome and have two talented older sisters who are practically geniuses at making things, she doesn't have to buy a costume. She'll make one better than yours in five minutes flat, blindfolded.

So why does Kuroki hate Halloween?

"SAYUKI, FOR THE LAST TIME, STOP TRYING TO SWIPE THE CANDY WE'RE SETTING OUT FOR THE KIDS!"

She's seriously considering suicide, or sending herself to an asylum. Every year. Every god damned fucking year. October 31st is the day when she wants to kill herself, or at least her best friend. Because, GOD, Sayuki is _annoying_ whens she's hyper.

"HeyKuroki didyouknowthat KitKatstaste goodwithhotchocolate?" Sayuki grinned, fingers and face smeared with chocolate. Kuroki facepalmed. Really... Sayuki was like a three year old when it came to candy. How the girl had gotten so many years without a single cavity was beyond Kuroki, and it damned pissed her off because she had a few herself and she was way more careful with her teeth and Sayuki.

"Ryoma, get your lazy, good-for-nothing-but-tennis butt over here and control your hyper girlfriend," Kuroki growled. "I have to go grab _another_ bag of candy for your old man cause he's so freaking lazy and Sayuki keeps eating them. I don't know why I bother to help you guys set up for Halloween..." She continued to grumble to herself as she went outside where Aoiri was standing, a smirk on her face.

"Is Akai almost done decorating our house?" Kuroki asked her older sister as they climbed into her car. Akai, Aoiri's twin, was overly enthusiastic when they told her that she would be in charge with decorating the house and buying the candy this year. Kuroki absently wondered if they'd have to find themselves another house again. Last time Akai had been left alone at the house, she'd burned down most of the trees in their backyard while playing in the pool. Her sister was that special.

"I called her and I think I heard police sirens in the background," Aoiri answered calmly. "I might have imagined it though. Are we going back for another bag of candy?" Kuroki sighed.

"Yeah, Sayuki has like an internal radar for the stuff," she grumbled, looking out the window. It was cloudy and the pavement was wet... It had been raining an hour earlier. Hopefully it'd stay dry while they were out trick-or-treating, but she didn't mind the rain that much. Besides, it set the creepy mood of Halloween rather well.

"Are you going to be trick-or-treating with the Ice kid?" Aoiri grinned as they arrived at their house. Thankfully, there were no police nor fires around, though the house did look extremely scary. Akai had outdone herself this time. There were cobwebs and those balloon thingys that people set up on their front lawns, with a few lights strewn about that added to the creepiness. Jack-o-lanterns were placed all around the house, evil grins carved onto their faces with candles flickering inside each one. Kuroki was so busy marvel ling at her sister's skill that she almost forgot to smack her other sister for her earlier comment.

"Yeah, me, Sayuki, Ryo-ryo, and Eis Wurfel are gonna be trick-or-treating," Kuroki answered, scowling. Everyone had made it a point to tease her and Tezuka about getting together. It was annoying, since it was her strong belief that neither of them harbored any feelings for each other. "It took hours to convince him though."

"The kid is so stiff," Aoiri replied, shaking her head as she opened the door. Akai was there, grinning, holding out a bowl of candy. She was dressed as an angel, complete with realistic feathered wings and a halo. She blinked and frowned when she realized it was her sisters rather than costumed kids begging for candy.

"Again?" she whined, throwing a twenty-pound bag of candy at them. Kuroki grunted as she caught it. She didn't even know they could have that much candy... "No kids have shown up yet, it's so boring here," Akai pouted.

"It's twelve at noon, what did you expect?" Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "Amazing that you could set up all this stuff in an hour though... I knew we should've gotten it up earlier."

"Well, I work best under pressure," Akai grinned. "Aoiri, you should put on your costume!" Akai shoved a demon costume into her sister's hands. Aoiri shook her head and pushed the costume back.

"I'll come back and put it on later," she answered. "Kuroki and I have to go, we left the Ryoma kid with a hyper Sayuki and I don't know how much longer he'll last."

"OK, bye then!" Akai called cheerfully.

"Whatever," Kuroki answered with a wave of her free hand as she staggered back to the car. The twins giggled as Aoiri jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine.

* * *

"Ryomaryomaryoma ryomaryomaryoma ryomaryo-"

"What."

"Kuroki'snotbackwithmorecandyyet."

"I know..." Ryoma twitched with annoyance. Sayuki, as much as he loved her, was absolutely unbearable while hyper. He silently prayed that Kuroki would hurry up.

"Ryoma,doyouhavemorecandy?" Sayuki asked innocently, almost pouting at him. Ryoma blushed. It was cute...

"Alright lover birds, I'm here with the freaking candy," Kuroki announced, slamming the door open and dropping the heavy candy bag with a loud THUMP. "RYO-RYO, RESTRAIN HER BEFORE SHE GETS HER MOUTH ON IT!" Automatically, Ryoma wrapped his arms around Sayuki's waist. Kuroki smirked.

"Now isn't that cute," she said nonchalantly as she began to fill the bowl with candy. Ryoma scowled but kept holding on. Sayuki had begun to struggle in her attempts to get to the candy, and she was ten times stronger with sugar running through her veins. It was a hard job trying to keep her still. Kuroki took her sweet, slow, long time in hiding the candy bag elsewhere in the house before returning and telling Ryoma that he could let go.

"You better have hid it better this time," he grumbled, rubbing his shoulders. "She sniffs out candy like a bloodhound..."

"Don't worry, I've got it safe," Kuroki answered. "I have to go and drag the Eis Wurfel here now... Damn the Ice Cube, I even made the freaking costume for him," she grumbled, stalking out the door and jumping into the car once more. Ryoma smirked.

"Sayuki, how long do you think they have until they start liking each other?" he asked. Even while hyper, Sayuki was uncanny with her instincts and predictions.

"Notthatlong," she answered, chewing on a Snickers bar. Ryoma's smirk widened as he glanced at her, then did a double take.

"... Where the hell did you get that?" he asked, trying the pry the chocolate bar from her fingers. She tightened her grip and continued munching.

"Overthere," she pointed with her other hand at an open cupboard which had apparently been Sayuki's stash for sugared goods that she had not eaten yet. Ryoma sweat dropped.

"I'm gonna have to board that up..."

* * *

"Argh, Eis, hurry _up!" _Kuroki growled, dragging Tezuka rather forcefully through the Echizens' front door. "Sayuki! The Ice Cube is here!"

"Heya, Tezuka-senpai!" Sayuki called cheerfully, sprinting down the stairs and leaping to the last step halfway. "Ryoma's upstairs putting on his costume."

"I see you already have yours on," Tezuka said, giving a nod as greeting. "You make a rather convincing vampire." Sayuki beamed, which was slightly creepy. She was dressed in a black long sleeved hoodie, with the hood up, and black cargo pants. Attached to the back of the hoodie were two black devil-like wings. She had on fake vampire teeth, and perhaps most disturbingly of all, her eyes were a blood red with her pupils in the shape of crosses.

"I'm wearing contacts for these," she grinned, pointing at her eyes. "I could get the color, but that'd mess up my personality and the pupils are too complicated for me to get."

"Thank God, what did lil' Ryo-ryo do to get you off your sugar high?" Kuroki asked, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Believe me, she's still hyper," Ryoma's voice answered. He was descending the stairs, fingering the wolf ears on top of his head. He had on a ragged shirt with the sleeves cut short that stopped at the midriff and unevenly cut jeans that ended around his knees. Wherever there should have been skin showing, other than his neck, however, there was instead blackish-brown fur, especially at the base of his neck, where there were giant tufts spiking every which way. His hands had furry backs and the fingernails were black, and long and sharp. His feet were completely furry, with similarly sharp claws.

"Kuroki did good work on your costume," Sayuki grinned, tugging at the fur. "The fur looks real..."

"Wasn't that hard," Kuroki answered with a nonchalant shrug. "The fur is actually the inside of the shirt. I just cut the shirt short and put the fur on. Same thing for the pants, and then there's just the gloves and shoes... That aren't really shoes. Ears were kind of annoying though."

"A pain to put on too," Ryoma grumbled. "Had to use Sayuki's hair clips..." Sayuki giggled.

"Anyways, Kuro, you and Tezuka-senpai should hurry up and put on your costumes too," Sayuki said, pulling them upstairs. "Don't worry about us, I think Ryoma can last another fifteen minutes of me being hyper."

"_I _don't think I can last another fifteen minutes," Ryoma muttered under his breath. "I don't even think I can last another thirty seconds." A thought occurred to him. "Oh crap, if this is how bad she is _before_ trick-or-treating, how the hell will I survive _after_?" Kuroki smirked.

"Now you know what I had to deal with for years," she grinned, closing the door to Sayuki's room. Tezuka entered Ryoma's.

"We'll be quick," he assured the younger boy. And he closed the door, leaving Ryoma with Sayuki again. He eyed her warily. She had a grin on her face that he didn't like, because it was both creepy and it probably meant that she was planning something.

"Hey Ryoma," she said sweetly. "You know that cupboard of candy that you boarded up?"

"... Yeah?" he answered, dreading what she would say next.

She grinned and held up a fistful of candy.

"I think you need to board it up again."

"... God _dammit,_ Sayuki..."

* * *

"Alright kiddies, we're done!" Kuroki called, skipping down the stairs. Sayuki glanced up and grinned, while Ryoma continued hammering away at the cupboard. Kuroki was wearing a blood red kimono with long bell sleeves, small slits near the shoulders, with a pure white sash around her waist. Underneath, barely visible, she was wearing a white under-kimono (nagajuban). She was wearing white socks that reached mid-calf and black, three inch sandals that made her even taller than she originally was. Strapped to her right thigh was a black weapon holster with two black, nice, sharp, and pointy knives. She patted them fondly and told Sayuki, "For security reasons."

Kuroki was just pulling her long, black hair into a ponytail to keep the hair out of her face when Tezuka appeared. She smirked. "Knew it would fit you."

Tezuka was wearing contacts (leftover from the Cinderella play). He was wearing a deep blue turtleneck that was somewhat large, reaching past the top of his thighs. A black cloth belt embroidered with white was around his waist, and he was wearing stormy gray cotton pants. His shoes were made of black cloth, and wrapped around his shoulders was a sinister black cloak with tattered ends. He had wrist guards of a similar blue to his turtleneck with the same white border as the belt, which an additional rectangle pattern on the upper parts. Beneath that were black fingerless gloves, also bordered with white, which reached up to his elbows. And underneath _those_ were gray arm warmers that reached midway between his elbows and shoulders.

"So Kuroki's a ninja and Tezuka-senpai is a... warrior-ninja thing," Sayuki said slowly, munching on a cookie. "That's nice."

"Forgot one more thing," Kuroki said. "Be right back." She hopped out of the house, nearly tripping over the bowl of candy she had set outside, and returned from her trip to the car.

"Here," she said, handing Tezuka a katana. It was black with a golden hilt, a yellow string wrapped around the sheath. He unsheathed the sword, revealing a pure black, menacing blade. Tezuka blinked in surprise and resheathed the sword.

"Thank you," he said, examining the sword. "It's... amazing." Kuroki grinned.

"Keep it," she said. "The whole costume is yours."

"Wait wait wait wait wait, so you and Tezuka-senpai get the sharp shinies and _we_ don't?" Sayuki protested, pouting. "That's totally unfair!"

"Well you didn't want me to make your costume," Kuroki answered with a shrug. "And it'd be weird for a werewolf to be walking around with a weapon, don't you think?"

"My guess is that the epic sword is a bribe for Captain Tezuka to come trick-or-treating with us," Ryoma said, finally coming over to drop off the nails and hammer. "Am I right?" Kuroki grinned.

"No kidding, there's no other way he'd come," she replied. "Anyways, let's go grab our bags and stuff. I'm not wasting another minute that we could be out there getting free candy."

"FREE CANDY!" Sayuki cheered, and she ran off. Seconds later, she returned with all of their bags. "LET'S GO!"

Ryoma, Kuroki, and Tezuka all repressed a sigh. This was going to be a long night...

* * *

They pulled up to the first house: Momo's. Ryoma had no idea (and really didn't want to know) how Sayuki knew where he lived. Kuroki looked like she cared less, and Tezuka, though he appeared indifferent, was rather creeped out. He made a mental note to self to make sure that Sayuki didn't know where he lived.

Sayuki, predictably, even though she wasn't negative, had something planned. Putting a finger to her lips to keep the others silent, she gestured for them to crouch behind the bushes nearby. Grumbling, since the lawn was muddy, they obliged, well hidden in the darkness and leaves. Sayuki grinned, flashing her vampire teeth, and rang the doorbell, leaping behind the bushes with them as someone yelled, "Coming!". They heard footsteps and the door opened, revealing a confused Momo (half wrapped in toilet paper, presumably dressed as a mummy).

"Hello? Kids? I have candy?" he called, holding out a bowl of candy. Ryoma, Kuroki, and Tezuka eyed Sayuki warily. The chances of her leaping out and attacking Momo for the candy was about as likely that Ryoma would piss off his opponent in tennis one way or another. Amazingly, she stayed put, her grin still plastered on her face.

"_Momoshiro Takeshi_," she hissed, her voice unusually deep and raspy. Momo jumped and looked around. Kuroki bit her thumb to suppress her giggles and Ryoma smirked. Even Tezuka managed a smile.

"_I know where you live~" _Sayuki continued.

"Who are you?" Momo asked, a nervous smile on his face. He knew his friends. He knew it was probably one of them pranking him, but _damn_ that voice was scary as hell.

"_I know what you're hiding_," Sayuki hissed. Momo made a noise that was a mix between a strangled yelp and whimper, dropped the bowl, and ran inside, slamming the door. There were a few moments of silence as they heard his footsteps fade, and they burst out into laughter, Tezuka remaining stubbornly sober, although Kuroki could've sworn that she heard a chuckle from him.

"CANDY!" Sayuki shrieked, cutting through the laughter. She pounced on the pile of discarded sweets and began shoving them into her bag. With an exasperated groan, Ryoma, Kuroki, and Tezuka pulled themselves out of the mud and from behind the bushes, restraining Sayuki and dividing the candy equally, leaving enough in the bowl for others who might come by.

"But I scared Momo-senpai!" Sayuki pouted, never stopping her complaints as they hopped back into Akai and Aoiri's car. "I deserved the candy!"

"We wouldn't be sane if you had all that," Ryoma answered, poking her stomach. She squeaked and hit him reflexively.

"You know, this kinda makes me wonder what Eis Wurfel is like when he's hyper," Kuroki wondered aloud. There was silence as everyone turned to stare at her, then at Tezuka.

"Aoiri, it's a green light," Akai said, tugging at her sister's devil wings. Scowling, Aoiri turned back around and pressed down on the gas pedal. There were a few moments of awkward silence until Sayuki spoke up.

"Ryoma, you're out of candy."

"... What?" He glanced down at his bag, and sure enough, all the candy he had gotten so far had disappeared. Shaking his head with annoyance, he reached into Sayuki's bag and snagged her candy.

"Hey!" she protested, reaching for the handful that he had pulled out. To her annoyance, he flaunted his new height over her as he held the candy far away.

"Ryoma, you're such a meanie-butt," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. Ryoma stared at her in disbelief.

"... 'Meanie-butt'?" he asked, choking out a laugh. Apparently, Sayuki lost her ability to be insulting while hyper. Sayuki scowled but ignored him otherwise. With a nonchalant shrug, Ryoma opened a bag of Skittles and dumped the entire contents into his mouth. Kuroki stared at him, eye twitching.

"You're insane," she muttered, shaking her head. "You better have a better tolerance for sugar than Sayuki or I _will_ commit murder."

"Hn," Ryoma answered, tossing the empty wrapper into the back row where Kuroki and Tezuka sat. Kuroki gaped at him.

"I don't know which makes me want to strangle you more: you throwing trash at me," she emphasized this by whacking Ryoma on the head, shoving the bag back into his hands, "or you using the freaking Ice cube's word."

"... Hn," Tezuka grunted. Kuroki pulled out one of her knives without hesitation and pointed it at his throat.

"No," she growled, glaring at him.

"I suggest that you do not hand weapons to your younger sister in the future," Tezuka said to Akai and Aoiri, eying the weapon warily.

"Sorry kid, we'll keep that in mind," Akai said with a grin. "Red light!" The car jerked to a stop, throwing everyone forward. If Kuroki hadn't pulled the knife away at the last moment, she would've sliced Tezuka's throat.

"Huh, guess it _is_ pretty dangerous," Kuroki commented, as if knives being sharp and possibly dangerous was something new. She put away the knife.

"Todaywillberemembered asthedaythat TezukaKunimitsunearly losthislife!" Sayuki declared dramatically. The effect was ruined with her speed talk and the fact that she was twisted around, chin resting on the back of the seat, grinning at them with blue lips and a green tongue.

"What did you _eat_?" Kuroki demanded. "Your teeth look like you just freaking drank someone's blood, and you tongue is _green_."

"Airheads," Sayuki answered simply, holding up a handful of them. She turned back around. "Alright, Aoiri-san, next stop: Yukina-chan's house!"

"... How the hell do you know where she lives!" Kuroki yelled.

"Stalker," Ryoma coughed, staring out the window and looking innocent. He braced himself for a punch to the gut, surprised when he didn't feel it. He turned around and saw that Sayuki was oblivious to his comment, happily chewing on the mouthful of candy that he had stolen from her.

"Argh, we are _so_ screwed," Ryoma grumbled, face palming.

"Iwonderifanybody givesouthotchocolateand coffeeonHalloween?"

"Oh hell no."

* * *

It turns out that Yukina gave out hot chocolate and coffee on Halloween. Go figure.

That single trip ended in Sayuki being more hyper than she had ever been in her life, previous Halloweens included. It forced the others to go to a house that they never would've went to if they could help it: Inui's.

With Sayuki literally bouncing off the walls of the car, Aoiri drove them to Inui's house where it was, predictably, creepy as hell. He was giving out homemade sweets, which, without a doubt, were as terrifyingly poisonous as his juices and other concoctions. His front yard, all the way up to the street, was covered in the bodies of fainted, unconscious, and sick looking children. Obviously the unfortunate victims of his food.

If Inui Juice hadn't been the only cure, no matter how temporary, for Sayuki's hyperness, then they never would've gone within a three kilometer radius within the place.

"Yo, Data Dude, wassup," Kuroki greeted as they carefully stepped over the piles of kids up to the doorway. "Trick-or-treat, though by the looks of your front yard, it's a trick."

"A trick in the form of a treat," Inui clarified, handing them each a cookie. It was a sickening mixture of purple and green, disturbingly enough. "Would you mind eating them here? I need to gather more data on their effects..."

"Yeeea-no," Kuroki grumbled. "Hey Sayuki! Cookies!"

The four cookies were gone before Kuroki had even finished the word "cookies". Sayuki was licking her fingers happily when she froze and dropped the the ground.

"That good enough for you, Inui-senpai?" Ryoma asked. "Sayuki was under the influence of a lot of sugar and caffeine."

"Yes, yes," Inui muttered, scribbling in the notebook that he had gotten from God-knows-where. "Interesting..." Still mumbling to himself, he turned and closed the door, leaving the three to navigate their way back out of the sea of bodies while dragging Sayuki.

"Well, that should keep her knocked out for a while," Kuroki said cheerfully as they all clambered back into the car. "I swiped some extras in case she wakes up less sober than we'd like." She held up at least ten more of the dreaded cookies.

"Let's just go to a random neighborhood and get some candy now," Ryoma mumbled, absently petting Sayuki's head, which lay in his lap, with one hand as he rested his chin on the other, staring out the window. "It looks like it's gonna rain soon."

"The weather forecast did predict a drizzle later today," Tezuka agreed. "We should make this our last trip."

"Dealing with Sayuki made me tired as hell," Kuroki mumbled. "So yeah, that sounds good..."

* * *

Kuroki's definition of "one more trip" is fifty houses. By the time they returned to the car, all of their bags were more than full. Sayuki was so hyper that they ended up using all of Inui's cookies to knock her out. And she _still_ had five bags' worth of candy.

"Can't wait until we have to deal with _that_," Kuroki muttered sarcastically, suppressing a yawn as she rubbed at her eye tiredly. "She had like, what, one bag today and I'm already tired as hell..."

"Tomorrow is a school day, you should get some rest," Tezuka observed. Sayuki was curled up against Ryoma's leg again, and Ryoma himself was fast asleep. Akai kept nodding off, although Aoiri, who was at the wheel, was luckily wide awake.

"Bugger," Kuroki mumbled. "I hate school... have to wake up early..."

"It's already close to midnight," Tezuka said. "Sleep, your sisters will get you home." Kuroki mumbled something incoherent in reply, half asleep.

The car continued on in silence. It was raining for real outside now, the rain drumming against the car's roof rather loudly. It didn't wake anyone up, although it kept Tezuka awake. He started when he felt a weight against his shoulder. Glancing down, he saw that it was Kuroki, still asleep. He chuckled a bit to himself. Had she been awake, she would've killed him...

He unwrapped his cloak and covered her with it. By no means did her costume look warm enough. He let her rest against him, not minding her gentle weight.

Aoiri watched all of this in the mirror, smiling knowingly to herself.

Then she cursed under her breath when she nearly missed a red light.

**Hallospe Mini Sequel**

Sayuki woke up the next morning with something similar to a hangover. Her head was pounding and she felt slightly dizzy, and it was only made worse by the sugar still running through her system, making her twitchy.

"Ugh... Don't feel so good," she groaned, sitting up slowly, trying not to make her head throb any worse. She staggered out of bed, leaning heavily on the door, clutching her head the whole time. She went into Ryoma's room and collapsed on top of him.

"Ugh! Uh..." Ryoma shook himself awake. "Sayuki, what...?"

"Headache," she mumbled back. "Really, really bad headache... Hurts like a sonuvabitch..."

"Still on sugar high?" he asked, pulling himself up. He patted Sayuki on the head gently, and dragged himself out of bed.

"Yeah," she answered, pulling herself up slowly. "'m probably gonna be hyper as hell when this stupid headache wears off..."

"Take your time, I'll tell my old man why you're late," Ryoma said, already changed into his school uniform. "If you don't feel well by the time we're leaving, I'll tell your teachers too."

"Thanks, Ryoma..." He winced at the pain her voice conveyed. He paused at the doorway, wondering if he was going to hate himself later for this.

"There's another one of Inui-senpai's cookies downstairs," he said. "I dunno if they have sugar in them, but they should knock you out until the headache starts getting less painful..."

"Ugh, never thought I'd willingly eat one of those things while not hyper, but could you bring it up here?" Sayuki groaned. Ryoma smirked.

"Sure. Just don't puke in my room."

* * *

"Oh, come _on_ Echizen!" Suigo groaned, slamming his head on his desk. "I know it's the day after Halloween and all, and I'm hyper as shit too, but seriously!"

"... Okay, so maybe the cookies were a bad idea," Ryoma admitted.

"Maybe not all that bad if we get to skip English," Kaze mused, chomping away on a Hershey's chocolate bar.

Their English teacher was completely flipping out, spewing threats about how he would make Sayuki's grades drop to hell if she didn't pull herself together. It was no use. Sayuki was far too high to care, singing (badly) at the top of her lungs, almost sounding drunk, a mix between Japanese and English. She hopped from desk to desk, and all her classmates had already taken all their things and piled it in a corner of the room, safe from her.

"Saiki! I demand for you to stop this instant!" the teacher yelled. Sayuki merely continued singing to herself, finally landing on the teacher's desk.

"Hiyateach!" Sayuki grinned at him, speaking entirely in English like she and Ryoma liked to do to annoy their teacher. "Sohowareyoutoday? Good? Great, metoo! Purple! Pie! Squared! Chickensare reallydinosaursin disguise!"

"Er, yes, of course," the English teacher stammered. It annoyed him to no end that two of his students knew more about his subject than he did, no matter that they had lived in America for some time. His pride wouldn't let him admit it.

Ryoma snickered. Leave it to Sayuki to make a fool of their teacher while completely intoxicated...

"IwonderifIcangrowwingsandfly?" Sayuki asked aloud, this time in a language that they could all understand. "Wheee!" She leaped off the desk and fell to the floor with a thud.

"... Well that's going to do wonders to her headache..."

* * *

"AGH, SON OF A BITCH!"

"Calm down," Ryoma muttered, slapping an ice pack on Sayuki's forehead. With a whimper, she took the pack and lay back down.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around. She was on a bed, Ryoma sitting next to her.

"Nurse's office," he answered. "You fainted after jumping around so I had to take you here... The nurse is out right now though."

"Mm, thanks," Sayuki murmured, rubbing her temples in circular motions. "Ugh, my headache hurts a billion times worse..."

"Shouldn't do anything to strenuous for the rest of the day," Ryoma said, standing up. "I gotta go back to class. Take care of yourself."

"Kay..." Sayuki replied unenthusiastically. Ryoma paused at the doorway.

"No more sugar for you for the rest of the week."

"BASTARD!"

**~Hallospe End~**

* * *

_Yup. The aftermaths of sugar. Nuff said._

_Sayu's a teenage vamp, Ryo's a wolfie, and (to quote Sayuki), Kuroki's a ninja and Tezuka-senpai is a... warrior-ninja thing. Ryoma suddenly becomes the carpenter as he boards up candy, Tezuka is bribed by sharp-shinies, Momo was totally _not_ scared, Yukina is an evil mind reader (or maybe she just likes coffee and hot chocolate), and Inui's food is evil. EVIL. D:_

_I originally planned on making ANOTHER fic to put all the specials/extras such as Christmas (Eve) and New Years and other little weird short stories that don't fit into the plotline but... It's easier just posting it on the original fic. Maybe I'll drag these shorts out and put them into their own thing later but... meh._

_Status of ODL: Chapter 2 should be up within a few days._

_Status of Christmas (Eve) short (yes I'm writing one, or rather, I'm _not_ but I'm planning to): um.. yeah... I'll get back to you. Soon._

_Status of New Years short: Complete, but set after the ODL timeline so there are some spoilers but nothing that isn't already obvious. Like Sayuki's parents were named Mary Sue and Gary Stu, Kuroki actually has a secret crush on Suigo (who is gay for Tezuka, who likes one of Kuroki's sisters), Furei turns out to be this super human robot thingy majig controlled by Kaze and Daichi who plan to take over the world, Akai and Aoiri eat lots of popcorn, and Ryoma is severely confused._

_... If you haven't figured out by now, I'm joking. The spoilers are... you _know_ what I'm talking about. I mean, look at the genre. Look at the summary. You _know_ what's going to happen._

_So yeah. I'm not going to put up the New Years special thing, but if you don't mind the fairly obvious spoiler, then PM me and I'll email it to you. Or something._

_Agh, I almost forgot. There's _also_ a rather major spoiler. It's a... um... place. That's as far as I'm going to say. Bleh.__  
_

_Enough babbling on my part. Now go do your homework. I know I have to do mine._

_School hates me._

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	3. Chapter 2

_Like I promised Chao. BlooodyRose, here's chapter 2. Remind me never to promise to update in the middle of the week again. Especially when I have an eye exam, a crap load of homework, and getting braces. x_X_

_I'm... actually not quite satisfied with this chapter. I think I could've done a lot more with hypergative Sayuki. :/_

_Oh well. There's always next time... :D_

_Go about five paragraphs down and you'll see what hypergative Sayu is like._

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

Yo, Kai forced me to comment kthxbai

~Ryuu

* * *

Friday ended and Saturday arrived. A whole day had gone by, and Sayuki still hadn't left her room. Ryoma had been silently debating with himself whether or not to visit her, but in the end, he decided to let her cool down. But 10:00 was approaching and he hadn't heard from Sayuki yet, so he had no choice but to knock on her door.

"Sayuki," he called when she didn't open the door. "It's 9:45... We have to go or we'll be late."

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," he heard her call back. Satisfied knowing that she would be out soon, he retreated to his own room, attempting to figure out whether or not she was still in negative. If what Kuroki had said was true, and Sayuki was stuck in negative, then that would _not_ be fun...

"Hey, moron." Sayuki entered the room, her face uncharacteristically devoid of all emotion. Ryoma watched her, still unsure of her current mood. With her next sentence, he was even more confused, unsure of whether she was just being random or actually trying to make him suffer.

"Have you ever had a wet dream?"

Ryoma wisely chose to stay silent.

"We gotta go now," he said, walking towards the door. Sayuki stuck out her foot and he stumbled, grabbing onto the door frame to steady himself.

Alright, it was official. She was still negative.

"Oops," was all she said in that maddeningly emotionless voice. Deciding to ignore her, he continued on, heading down the stairs as Sayuki followed. She seemed intent on annoying him, and so opened her mouth to say more.

"Guess what I dreamed about last night."

"... What," Ryoma said in monotone, slightly curious despite himself.

"Tezuka-senpai was a cheerleader," Sayuki answered. Ryoma froze, his mind blanking out at those four words that she had just uttered.

"... I think you just broke my brain," he replied tonelessly, his mind still trying to digest what he had just heard. He thought he saw her lips twitch up into a faint smirk (or was it a smile?), but it disappeared and he was left still trying to comprehend "Tezuka as a cheerleader" and wondering whether he had only imagined the smirk.

Sayuki waved her hand in front of Ryoma's face. There was no response. She let her hand fall to her side.

"Mission accomplished..." She stuck her hands in her pocket and opened the door to find Kuroki waiting outside, looking slightly annoyed. "Next victim..."

* * *

The whole time they were walking to the cafe, Sayuki had been silent. Ryoma and Kuroki didn't know what to make of it. They were relieved that she hadn't done anything crazy, but they were sure that it meant she was plotting something sinister. Slightly apprehensive, Kuroki pushed open the cafe door.

"Yo! You guys are finally here," Momo grinned, looking up from the notebook he was taking a customer's order from. And that customer was...

"Captain Tezuka?" Ryoma asked in a surprised tone.

"Fancy seeing you here," Kuroki said in a dead voice, apparently still bitter about him and the "Hn" thing. Despite her annoyance, she slid into the open spot next to him as Ryoma and Sayuki sat down across from them.

"So, same as always?" Momo asked. All but Sayuki nodded.

"This one," she said, pointing to something on the menu that Ryoma couldn't see. Momo nodded, scribbled something down, then went away, saying, "I'll be back! Our shifts are over in five minutes." There was a silence as Kuroki stared aimlessly out the window, Tezuka merely sat there staring straight ahead, and Ryoma slouched in his seat, staring at the table. It was the equivalent of all of them twiddling their thumbs and whistling a tune.

Sayuki, on the other hand, grabbed a napkin and began ripping it to tiny little pieces.

"... Sayuki," Kuroki said slowly, "you didn't... order something with caffeine in it, did you?"

"No," Sayuki answered, still attempting to tear off a corner into an impossibly small piece.

There was a peaceful silence, the only sound being the ripping of paper.

"It was ice cream," she admitted after a moment.

Kuroki and Ryoma stared at the girl with expressions of utmost horror on their faces.

"Here are your orders-nya!" Eiji said cheerfully, appearing next to their table as he laid down each of their orders in front of them. They noticed that he wasn't wearing the cafe's uniform. "My shift is over, Momo and Oishi are changing right now," he explained.

"... Kitty, you might not want to give Sayuki that ice cream," Kuroki commented. Eiji apparently didn't hear her, as he set the ice cream down in front of Sayuki anyways. Sayuki took no notice of this, she only continued calmly destroying the napkin.

"But guys, the weirdest thing happened to Momo yesterday!" Eiji said excitedly. "He told us this morning. So he had been playing video games, and the phone rang, and it was Kaidoh! And Kaidoh was all like, 'This is Papa Johns, you can come pick up your pizza now.' It was insane!"

"... Either Momo's lying, Kaidoh was prank calling him, or Kaidoh seriously works at Papa Johns," Kuroki said thoughtfully, sipping at her drink.

"If it's either of the last two, I will laugh," Ryoma commented.

"It seems much more likely that Momo is lying," Tezuka agreed. "However, considering the circumstances, I would also doubt that."

"Doubt what?" Sayuki had apparently woken up from whatever daydream she had been experiencing.

"Kaidoh called Momo yesterday and apparently Kaidoh works at Papa Johns," Kuroki explained.

"Oh. That would've been me," Sayuki said nonchalantly, piling the now shredded pieces of napkin into a neat little pile.

"... What?"

"Well, I have to do _something_ while I'm locked up in my room, right?" Sayuki answered, crushing the pile of paper in a fist. "So I just started prank calling people..."

"... Oh god, what else did you do?" Ryoma asked, scared of the answer. This was hypergative Sayuki they were talking about...

"Ummm, I called random numbers," Sayuki said, looking thoughtful. "If a guy picked up, I'd say, 'Hello, this is Victoria's Secret, calling to confirm your order of lacy bras and thongs!'" Her voice had suddenly become cheerful and peppy. "And if it was a girl, it'd be something about a gender change..."

Even Tezuka looked horrified. Eiji was confused, but similarly shocked.

"Eh.. I'm... gonna go check on Momo and Oishi," Eiji said quickly, running off. As Tezuka, Kuroki, and Ryoma watched her in horror, Sayuki grabbed another napkin and began folding this one into a complex pattern, humming softly to herself all the while.

"... I think Suigo has just lost his title of Number 1 Prankster," Kuroki said weakly. "Hyper negative Sayuki owns all..."

Sayuki only smiled at her (though the smile was scarier than most of her evil sneers) and began to eat her ice cream.

* * *

Looking back on it now, Ryoma knew that he had been really, really, _really_ lucky that hypergative Sayuki had decided to focus her attentions on Kuroki and Tezuka and attempting to push them together rather than someone else. Because, in all honesty, the way hypergative Sayuki's mind worked as terrifying. To say the least.

First she had tried to rope everyone into the plan. Ryoma, Momo, and Eiji were mostly more than willing, but Oishi outright refused. Sayuki had merely shrugged, saying, "Suit yourself," but Ryoma caught a glint in her eye that told him that Oishi was playing a part, large or small, he couldn't tell, in this whether he liked to or not.

Surprisingly, and it was a total moment of deja vu when it happened, the group had been joined by Fuji and Yuuta, who were apparently shopping for groceries. This was the second time this had happened, and Ryoma felt an odd feeling of having the roles reversed: the first time, it had been Kuroki and the others trying to get him and Sayuki together. Remember their tactics, he had decided to take a page out of their book.

"Sayuki, remember last time Fuji-senpai and his brother popped up while we were wandering around town?" Ryoma murmured under his breath. "Kuroki tried to get me jealous by..." Sayuki nodded, her expression carefully blank to ensure that Kuroki did not become suspicious. The first time around, Kuroki and Momo and the others had tried to get Ryoma jealous by setting Sayuki up with Yuuta... so this time, even though they knew it probably wouldn't work, they would return the favor.

They had one thing going for them though. Fuji had been told of the plan, and, unlike his little brother, had agreed to play his part. He seemed to find the whole thing rather amusing, being the secret little sadist that he is. He and Kuroki began a casual conversation, which was rather easy because their personalities fit together rather well and they knew each other quite well from school.

All the other plotters were rather used to disguising their devious grins and so they kept up a chat about... something. Nobody was really keeping track. Yuuta was feeling slightly out of place, but the awkwardness disappeared when hypergative Sayuki (in an act that would not have made Ryoma so annoyed had she been in her positive mode) included him in their conversation. A normal Sayuki would have done so without a second thought, and Ryoma would not have been agitated, knowing how kind she was. But a negative Sayuki on the other hand... Although he assured himself that it was not the case, the little voice in the back of his head insisted that there was the chance that maybe it was because Sayuki cared about Yuuta, negative or not.

Sayuki glanced his way for a second, her eyes meeting his, and he caught a fleeting smirk on her face before she turned to reply to whatever Eiji had been saying. Ryoma scowled in response. She _knew_... He was jealous, and he knew what an idiot he was being, over such a little thing.

But damn it, he was Echizen Ryoma! His personality was arrogant, it wasn't his fault if his nature was to become annoyed and possessive of what he wanted.

... Well, okay, maybe it _was_ his fault... but... He loved Sayuki too much not to!

_Why am I arguing with my own head_? he thought, wincing inwardly. As Sayuki had once told him, arguing with voices in your head was the first half step to insanity. The entire first step was arguing with yourself out loud. _Thank God I haven't reached that point..._

Not three feet away from Ryoma was Tezuka, thinking to himself. He was... Feeling out of place? He wasn't talking with anyone, but that was usual. Normally, he was not one to begin a conversation, and there were few that could initiate one with him that would not bore him. But recently, it seemed, that silence was becoming a habit that he was slowly growing out of. Now why was that? He thought... and he arrived at the answered, surprised with it himself.

It was Kuroki.

She was one of those rare few that could start talking with him about something he hadn't even considered, or merely make small talk without boring him. Kuroki was, of course, entirely unique, so it wasn't too surprising that this was so. In fact, Kuroki was entirely unpredictable. But had she been speaking with him so much, drawing him out of his little moments of silence so often, that he had begun to feel accustomed to it?

The answer was yes.

But now she was speaking with Fuji, and not including him in the conversation, and it felt weird.

_Nothing that I cannot get used to though_, Tezuka told himself. He didn't quite believe his own words.

* * *

"Ryoma, your idea worked," Sayuki muttered from the corner of her mouth. Ryoma gave a little start. He hadn't been paying attention, and he saw nothing different about Tezuka. One thing he learned, though, was to always trust Sayuki.

"So now what?" he asked quietly. The corner of her mouth quirked up into a sort of half smile.

"And now," she murmured. "Now... we disappear." Ryoma blinked.

"What?" But before he had even finished saying the word, Sayuki had pulled him away into an alleyway, which was quite dark but didn't lead anywhere. They were soon joined by Momo and Eiji.

"How'd it go?" Sayuki asked as they watched the rest of the group walk by without noticing their disappearance. Eiji grinned and Momo gave her a thumbs up.

"Mentioned offhand to Oishi about that new bookstore," Eiji said. "It has a book that he's been wanting to check out... He should be leaving the group soon."

"Fuji's brother mentioned something about having to finish homework soon, and I told him that he best start now," Momo said cheerfully. "So soon it should just be Fuji-senpai, Captain Tezuka, and Kuroki."

"Perfect," Sayuki murmured. She turned to Ryoma and knew, despite him not saying anything and his face being completely devoid of emotion, that he was confused and wanted answers. It's the kind of thing that sort of just happens after you've _been_ a person a couple of times.

"We want the group to split up so it's just them three left," she said. "After that, we get to stalk them." Here, Ryoma would have coughed, "stalker" had Sayuki been normal (the stalker thing being a sort of inside joke between them), but he feared for his ability to reproduce and so wisely kept his mouth shut. Sayuki continued.

"And then... the second part of the plan commences."

"Yay," Ryoma muttered unenthusiastically under his breath. "Fun..."

* * *

"... I should've figured out that she'd pull something like this," Kuroki muttered, a scowl on her face as she marched back the way she came, followed by an amused Fuji and Tezuka. "Should've known when she wasn't talking to me... God dammit, negative Sayuki pisses me off so much..."

"I'd love to help you guys look for the others, but I have to go," Fuji said, lifting the grocery bags that he had been carrying around the entire time. "Our sister will be wondering where Yuuta-kun and I went."

"Yeah, yeah," Kuroki answered absently, waving her hand. "Go ahead and go... See you Monday, Apple." Fuji smiled and they went on ahead as he went back home. With a sigh that was more of a growl, Kuroki turned around, scowling at Tezuka.

"Alright, do _you_ have any ideas where they might be?" she asked grumpily, jabbing a finger at his chest. Really... She was still annoyed with him and his silence and stupid "Hn"s, almost enough to attempt ignoring him for the rest of the day, but then she realized that that was a petty thing to do. And besides, finding Sayuki and the others was more important right now... So that she could beat them up faster.

"Stalking us?" Tezuka suggested, raising an eyebrow, seemingly amused. He glanced over his shoulder and Kuroki stood on her tip-toes so that she could see past him. When he turned back around, there was a slightly scary and evil glint in her eyes as she marched past him, turning abruptly to face a dead end. But hiding in that small alleyway was...

"Momo, Kitty, where the hell are Ryoma and Sayuki?" Kuroki asked, raising an eyebrow. They grinned sheepishly at her.

"Dunno?" Eiji suggested unconvincingly. Momo whimpered and hid behind his senpai. The grin on Kuroki's face was too scary for words...

"Well," she said with false cheer, cracking her knuckles menacingly, "I've been meaning to relieve some stress lately anyways. Mind helping?"

"Depends on what you want us to do," Eiji answered, half-grinning to hide his fear. Kuroki's expression brightened... and darkened with evil at the same time.

"No worries, you just have to stand there."

Tezuka walked over and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest. After a quick glance at his watch, he closed his eyes... This might take a while.

The profanities coming out of Kuroki's would have made a sailor proud. He was only hearing the fight, but the smacks and Eiji and Momo's yells were enough to paint a vivid scene for him. After a few moments, he thought he could begin to distinguish the different blows Kuroki was dealing by sound alone: the ones with a sickening crunch were her punches, a smacking noise was probably an open-handed blow, and when Momo gave a high-pitched whimper, Tezuka wondered distinctly whether Momo would ever be able to reproduce.

People walking by sweat dropped as they paused and wondered what the hell was going on in that alleyway.

"Mummy," a little boy asked, watching the scene with interest, "what does di-"

"Don't even start," the boy's mother muttered, pulling the boy's hand, who finally followed reluctantly, still glancing over his shoulder to catch glimpses of the fight.

"Tezuka!" Eiji's voice, cracking with pain. "Hurry up and stop your girlfriend!"

Oops. Not the right words to say.

"KIKUMARU EIJI, YOU * * * * * * * *-

Please hold.

…

We now return. Tezuka has finally decided to stop Kuroki, shifting his weight back onto his own two feet as he nonchalantly shoved his hands into his pockets. He turned and went into the alleyway, seeing a still raging Kuroki and what was left of Momo and Eiji.

Not much.

"We still have to find the other two," he said calmly, not in the slightest fazed by the glares she was sending him. "We can leave these two here... I don't believe that they will be going anywhere quite soon."

"Too right," Momo groaned, a half-squeak and half-whimper. Tezuka's mouth twitched into a half smile despite himself.

"You didn't damage them permanently, did you?" Tezuka asked, half amused and half disapproving as they walked away. Kuroki was still scowling, but looked in a considerably better mood now.

"Nothing lasting, I think," she answered, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "I kinda went all out on them... Might've overdone it. I figured you would've stopped me sooner."

"... Hn," he answered, partly because there was nothing else to say and partly because he wanted to annoy (tease?) her again. Kuroki's eye twitched.

"You know what you can do with you and your stupid 'hn'?" she hissed, glaring straight ahead, her hands clenched into fists. "You can shove it up your-"

Eh hem. We must pause again because of Kuroki's foul mouth.

…

"Indeed?" Tezuka answered, raising an eyebrow, slightly surprised and mostly disturbed by the threats that had just come out of Kuroki's mouth.

"Hell yeah."

* * *

"Ugh... You two are so going to hell," Momo groaned, sitting up, holding his head to make his vision stop whirling. "Off a cliff. Onto sharp pointy rocks. With sharks circling..." Ryoma was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, not unlike Tezuka had been doing just moments ago. Sayuki merely smirked at the pile that Eiji and Momo made on the ground.

"You're going first," Ryoma retorted as he stood up straight, Sayuki following his lead. Sayuki grinned.

"I get to push."

"Nyan, Weasel Girl really doesn't hold back, neh," Eiji whined, standing up. "Might have to go to the hospital... You two can take over from here?"

"Yeah, you two were kinda just to see what would happen if she found us," Sayuki answered nonchalantly. Eiji and Momo gawked at her back as she turned the corner and began to stalk Kuroki and Tezuka again. Ryoma only shrugged at them sheepishly.

"Echizen, you're so lucky she loves you or you would probably be writhing in pain with us," Momo said in a disgruntled tone. Ryoma grinned.

"Yeah. I know."

"RYOMA, HURRY UP OR I'M DITCHING YOU AND TELLING KUROKI WHERE YOU ARE!"

"Wouldn't she punish you first?" Ryoma muttered, running towards Sayuki despite his complaints. Sayuki stared at him with a strange expression: half amusement, half exasperation.

"Ryoma, you know me by now," she answered. "I have my ways..."

"Yeah... One thing I've definitely learned... Don't screw with Sayuki."

Sayuki smirked.

* * *

"... I understand your frustration, but it would be wise to refrain from destroying your phone," Tezuka said warily, watching Kuroki as she seethed, tightening her grip on her cell phone. Either she was too angry to hear or not bothering to acknowledge his existence. In any case, she showed no signs of hearing him.

"Sayuki. Pick. Up. _Now," _she snarled into the receiver. There was no response... With a huff of annoyance, she ended the call and went on to text Sayuki.

Tezuka watched her as she sent text... after text... after text... after frustrated text. When it became apparent that Sayuki was not going to respond, Kuroki finally gave up on contacting her through her cell phone and put the device away.

"Well," she sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm out of ideas. I beat the shit out of the annoying sidekicks and I'm pretty sure I've blown up her phone." She ticked off each of her fingers as she listed what they'd done so far. "We've retraced out steps, asked people back at the cafe, checked back at the bookstore... We even went to that one arcade we visited last time. We've called Apple and Egghead..."

"And we have checked behind us multiple times to ensure that they are not still stalking us," Tezuka finished for her. "Have you tried calling their home?"

"Yeah," Kuroki answered, staring at her hands. "Ryo-ryo's dad picked up and said that he hasn't heard from them either."

"Well then..." Tezuka closed his eyes, thinking. "I'm not quite sure where else they could be." Kuroki groaned in exasperation.

"Screw this," she grumbled. "I don't care anymore..." Tezuka's eyes flew open when Kuroki grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away. He stumbled after her, confusion flooding his features.

"Where are we going?" he asked, finally regaining his balance. She didn't let go of his hand and merely continued to pull him along.

"I give up on trying to find them," Kuroki said. Though he couldn't see her face, he could've sworn that she was smirking. "So I figure we might as well make it so that they can't find _us_..."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Tezuka said as they weaved in and out through the crowds of people. This time, Kuroki turned around so that he could see her smirk.

"You'll see..."

* * *

"Huh, sounds like she has something up her sleeve," Ryoma commented, turning to Sayuki. "What do you-" He stopped mid sentence at the sight of her face. "What's wrong?"

"... Ryoma, let's leave," she murmured quietly. Ryoma blinked in confusion.

"Sayuki, what's wrong?" he repeated, gentler this time. Her face was carefully blank, clear of all expression, but she refused to look at him.

"Kuroki's... taking him to a place," Sayuki said slowly. "And she knows I'll never go back to that place..."

"Is it bad?" Ryoma was worried... this wasn't normal, even from what he'd seen of hypergative Sayuki.

"No," she answered. "But..." She shook her head and stared resolutely at Ryoma. "We'll get Akai-san and Aoiri-san to tail them. It doesn't matter." Akai and Aoiri, Kuroki's older twin sisters, loved poking fun at Kuroki at any chance they got. It made sense... But Sayuki's sudden decision to leave them alone was still bothering Ryoma. He didn't ask her about it though. He knew Sayuki. She'd tell him when she was ready...

"Let's go back then," he said. Sayuki nodded, sending a quick text to Aoiri, and the two began to head home.

* * *

"Have you finally come to your senses?" Tezuka asked, slightly amused as Kuroki slowly began to slow down. He had absolutely no idea where they were. He hoped that Kuroki did.

"I've always been with my senses," Kuroki snapped back, staring up at the clouds. "I just kinda feel bad... Usually I don't play the 'past trauma' card with Sayuki."

"'Past trauma'?" Tezuka repeated. Kuroki shook her head and began walking again. He followed her, if only because she seemed to know where they were going.

"I'll tell you when we get there," she answered. Tezuka repressed a sigh.

_And people say _I'm _the cryptic one..._

* * *

"... Oh, so she's taking him to _that_ place," Akai murmured, pulling her head back from around the corner. She was smirking. "She's certainly never taken _us_ there..."

"Akai, stay calm," Aoiri murmured, folding her arms across her chest. She closed her eyes, thinking. "... She's not taking the shortcut..."

"Actually, I think she's taking the longest way possible," Akai muttered, shaking her head. "Guess that means she doesn't want the kid to get back there. In any case... She's really bringing him there just to lose Sayuki-chan."

"A rather cruel method of going about it, I must say," Aoiri said, peeking around the corner. "They're moving, let's go."

"Sis, d'you really think that Kuroki only brought him here to get rid of Sayuki-chan?" Akai whispered as they jogged after Kuroki and Tezuka. "I mean... There are other, less painful way for her to do it... And she knows we know where she's going. No doubt she expected Sayuki-chan to call us to take over. So..."

"Honestly?" Aoiri answered, holding her hand up to stop her sister. She pressed her back to the wall and cautiously peered around another corner. "I think our little sister wants Sayuki-chan to get over this. I think she wants Sayuki-chan to overcome her fears... After this and what Ryo-ryo fixed, there should only be one big problem left."

"Makes sense," Akai nodded. The sisters walked out into the open.

"We're here."

* * *

Tezuka stood there, shocked at the place he was at. Kuroki smirked at his expression.

"Ice cube's little mask is melting, eh?" she grinned, poking his forehead. He blinked and shook his head, opening his eyes just in time to see Kuroki already halfway down the slope and into the field.

They were standing on what seemed to be a hill on one side, dipping down into a low valley. The valley was more of a large ditch, as it was surrounded by similar hills on all sides, though it seemed that only the hill he was on was a part of the city. They were literally at the very edge of the city. But it couldn't be any more different from the city.

Tezuka half felt like he had just stepped into a forest, the other half felt like he had walked into a field of flowers. In a way, it was quite similar to a large garden. Everything was covered in grass, flowers, trees, and plants of some kind. It was breathtakingly beautiful... And different from any place he had seen before.

He slid down the grassy hill down to where Kuroki had been waiting for him.

"Where is this?" he asked, gesturing around. Kuroki was no longer smiling. In fact, she looked more serious that he had ever seen her.

"This is where Sayuki, I, and the three idiots used to play," she answered, falling back to sit down. She patted the ground next to her, indicating for him to sit with her. He did so, and there was a silence as Kuroki leaned back on her hands, staring up at the sky. Tezuka continued to look around. This was a peaceful place, and he now noticed that quite a few animals were slowly peeking out at them, birds and squirrels and such.

Tezuka returned his gaze to Kuroki when she let out a resigned sigh. She curled herself up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Guess I might as well tell you now," she murmured. "This place..." She looked around at it fondly. "Sayuki and I first found it when we were five. Our families were eating at a restaurant nearby, and since we finished early, we decided to run around... And we somehow found ourselves here. Akai and Aoiri found us... And it was only us four that knew about this place.

"Then, in school, Sayuki became friends with Suigo, Kaze, and Daichi. They followed us here once... and they became part of our little group. This place was kind of like a haven for all of us. When something went wrong, when we couldn't find someone, this was always the first place we looked. When something important happened, when we had to tell someone any news, this would be the place to do it. It's peaceful... And so much of it is nature. It's calming in that way."

"... 'was' a haven?" Tezuka asked quietly when she didn't continue. She turned to him, her face telling him that she was remembering something unhappy and painful.

"Sayuki was the first one to find this place," she answered slowly, turning her eyes back to the sky. The clouds were rolling over the sun, and suddenly the place was cast in shadow. "But she was the first one to leave it."

"What do you mean?"

"... When she was in third grade, and I was in fifth, Suigo, Daichi, and Kaze all confessed to her," Kuroki replied. "I know you don't really know about what Sayuki's been through... But it was emotionally painful for her, so much that her negative side surfaced and didn't leave for a long time. We were all worried about her... But her negativity scared us," she murmured, staring at her hands in guilt. "And then, only a short while before that... her parents had died."

"... I see," Tezuka answered softly. He didn't know all the details, but he knew that Kuroki cared for Sayuki deeply, and Sayuki's pain was much of Kuroki's. "... It must have been hard. For both of you."

"Well, yeah," Kuroki answered, taking a deep breath. "After that, Sayuki went to America, where a bunch of her relatives were... And you know the rest."

"Because of that one incident, she never returned to this place?" Tezuka asked, looking around. It was definitely a calming, beautiful place... He didn't think that he'd avoid it no matter how much emotional pain he had experienced here.

"It was kind of an unsaid oath that she made to herself," Kuroki answered. "After all, she didn't only have emotional pain. She almost died here, once."

"What?" Tezuka said, alarmed.

"It was after the confessions and her parents' death, right before she moved to America. It was during one of her bouts of negativity," Kuroki continued. "She was in a hurry to get here... And she slipped. From the top."

Tezuka glanced at the top of the slope. Yes... That height could certainly be near fatal for a child of her age, especially if one wasn't careful.

"We rushed her off to Suigo's parents, who put her in the hospital," she said. "But it was the last straw for her. Traumatized emotionally and physically, and still hurting from the death of her parents and having to leave everything she knew, she avoided the place like the plague."

"... That is something extremely tough to go through when one is so young," Tezuka murmured softly. "It's a wonder that she can still smile so cheerfully after all that."

"Yeah, a real miracle, born of another miracle," Kuroki sighed. "Her positive personality slowly came back during her time in America. She broke down a few times... But when you've hit bottom, the only way you can go is up, and it just wasn't in her nature to sit there, broken."

"And now?" he asked, glancing out of the corner of his eye. He could've sworn that he had heard a giggle, saw a flash of a shadow... "She seems to be back to the negative."

"She probably broke her brain," Kuroki snorted, standing up and brushing herself off. "I called Suigo's parents, they said they'd give her a checkup tomorrow. Probably nothing seri-SHIT!" Kuroki stumbled forward as something clonked her on the back of her head, making her fall forward... On top of Tezuka.

He just sat there, blinking in surprise.

"Ow... God dammit," Kuroki grumbled, rubbing her head as she sat onto her knees. "Ugh..." She turned and glared at the offending object: an innocent apple.

"... Oh good God, I _hate_ these things," Kuroki growled, snatching up the apple. "Last time I got hit by one of these things- ... Oh. Right."

"... Do you mind getting off me now?" Tezuka asked. Kuroki sniffed disdainfully and stood up, shooting suspicious glares every which way.

"Yeah, I hate these things," she muttered, throwing the apple as hard as she could into the trees. There was a squeak of pain, and a thump as an unconscious squirrel fell out of the tree. She sweat dropped.

"Oops..."

"Yes, I do believe you would have a certain dislike for apples," Tezuka said, standing up. "The last time one was thrown at you, I believe it forced us to kiss."

"Whatever," Kuroki said, yawning and stretching. "Good times, bad times... Made Sayuki suffer for that one. Whoever just threw that at me isn't getting off lightly either."

"Any suspects in mind?" Tezuka asked, amusement tinting his tone. Kuroki's punishments were usually rather fun to watch... So long as you had a sadistic streak and were not the unlucky one to be receiving the punishment.

"Yeah," Kuroki answered, starting to climb her way back up the hill. "It couldn't have been Sayuki, since she refuses to come to this place, and lil' Ryo-ryo would be smart enough not to piss me off... Suigo knows nothing about us being here, and Momo and Kitty are probably in the hospital right now."

"Leaving only two people mischievous enough to do such a thing," Tezuka noted. Kuroki grinned back at him.

"You sure catch on quickly, don't you Eis?" she said. "Yeah, probably those idiot sisters of mine... In one of their failed attempts to force us together."

"Hn," Tezuka answered reflexively, not even noticing when Kuroki whirled around to glower at him.

"And I thought you finally got that fixed," she grumbled, finally arriving at the top of the hill. "We should get back... It takes forever to get back, and it's not that early anymore either."

"H- yes," Tezuka answered, correcting himself. Normally he would rather enjoy annoying her, but seeing as she could probably ditch him and leave him to wander the streets for the rest of his life, he figured it wasn't wise to anger her at the moment. "You will have to tell me an easier path back there though. I feel I might visit it sometime in the future."

"I'll always show you the way back," Kuroki answered, smiling at him. "Don't worry."

* * *

Ryoma glanced up from the book he had been reading when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in," he called, turning his eyes back to the book. The door opened and Sayuki walked in, plopping herself down at the foot of his bed. "What's up, Sayuki?"

She shook her head, laying back. Deciding it was best to leave her alone, Ryoma continued reading. There was a peaceful silence for a while, until Sayuki finally opted to speak.

"Ryoma, remember what you told me last week?" she asked quietly.

"Uh... Yeah," he answered, placing a bookmark to mark his spot. "I confessed to you last week, I think I'd remember that."

"I'm thinking more of one line in particular," Sayuki said, sitting up. She stared at him very seriously, and it was hard for him to tell if she was still in negative. "The one about my hyperness being unique."

"And?" he asked, studying the cover of the book.

Sayuki stared at him pointedly, telling him to figure it out himself. Just as Sayuki was good at guessing his thoughts and emotions, he could usually guess what she was thinking. He thought about it... and it clicked.

"... Oh."

There was a silence, and then the entire meaning of what he had just figured out sunk in.

"Oh _hell_ no."

Sayuki grinned.

"Fuck yes."

* * *

"You want us to _what_!" Sayuki winced and held the phone away from her ear. Kuroki was all but shrieking at her... Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't expected this reaction.

"Kuroki, calm down," Sayuki said, sighing. "I know I'm stuck in negative right now... I checked with Suigo's parents this morning. They can't really fix it so they said the only thing they can think of is finding my own eye color..."

"... So you want us to get you hyper to do that," Kuroki deadpanned. "Because idiot Ryoma said that your sugar and caffeine high is probably the only thing you didn't copy from your parents."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"... I'm so killing the kid..."

"Well, it makes sense right?" Sayuki retorted. "If me being hyper is the only part where I act like my own self, then I should revert to my own eye color while hyper right?"

"But Sayuki, we've _seen_ your eyes when you're hyper," Kuroki said with exasperation. "I think we'd notice if you just changed colors."

"... True," Sayuki answered. "Still, Kuroki, remember what I'm like while I'm hyper? Most of the time you're trying not to kill me or yourself, not paying attention to my eye color."

Kuroki sighed.

"I guess it's worth a shot... But if we don't get anything out of this, I swear to God I'm going to commit suicide."

"Good enough for me," Sayuki grinned.

"Oh God, I'm already getting a bad feeling about this..."

* * *

Sunday morning, Kuroki showed up at Ryoma's house. To Ryoma and Sayuki's suprise, she had dragged Tezuka along as well.

"Why...?" Sayuki asked, pointing to Tezuka. Kuroki scowled at her, daring her to say anything.

"We're getting you hyper right?" Kuroki grumbled, as though the idea still sounded suicidal to her. "So I figured we might as well kill a line of birds with one stone and go to _that_ place to do it. That way, you're more contained... And since I've brought Ice there yesterday, and since he wants to go back to see it again, I figured I might as well drag him along."

"I knew you had brought him there yesterday," Sayuki mumbled. "But... Do I really have to go back?" Ryoma was surprised, and somewhat worried. It was the first time he had heard Sayuki complain like a child, afraid.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, placing a hand on Sayuki's shoulder comfortingly. Kuroki looked at him in surprise, then her mouth formed a little "oh."

"Right, she probably didn't tell you," she muttered to herself. "So this time it's only little Ryo-ryo left out of the loop... Has anyone else noticed that there's usually just one person confused in our group?"

"Kinda," Ryoma admitted. "So what the hell are you guys going on about?"

"It's this... place," Kuroki said, trying to describe it. "It'll be easier to tell you the story when we're there..." Sayuki shivered a tiny bit. Ryoma's squeezed her shoulder for a brief moment.

"Fine," Sayuki murmured finally. "We'll go there today and explain everything to Ryoma. And then we'll come back tomorrow to do the hyper thing... If I can handle it."

"You mean if _we_ can handle it," Tezuka corrected. They all looked at him strangely, and he blinked back at them.

"Am I the only one who remembers how terrifyingly annoying the girl can become while hyper?"

* * *

"Kuroki, why are we taking the hella long way?" Sayuki hissed as they rounded yet another building. Ryoma felt lost and Tezuka knew that he was never going to remember how to get there. He was surprised that Kuroki had memorized such a long path.

"I was giving you time to brace yourself, but if you wanna take the shortcut," Kuroki answered with a shrug. Sayuki huffed impatiently and marched ahead of Kuroki, becoming the new leader of the group. Following Sayuki, they made it to the place in under a few minutes.

Sayuki froze suddenly when they arrived, then took a deep shuddering breath and turned around, facing Tezuka. "Alright, so to get here using the shortcut... You head over to the cafe, take a left, go into that one place that looks like a dead end and keep going. When you get out, turn right and you should get here sooner or later." Tezuka committed these directions to his memory and nodded his thanks.

"Sayu, come on," Kuroki said gently, guiding the girl down the slope. Sayuki closed her eyes as if she were trying to wrench her eyes away from watching a train wreck. Ryoma and Tezuka followed, Ryoma looking around and slightly confused as to why Sayuki seemed to want to avoid this place so much. It seemed pleasant...

Eventually, Sayuki broke away from Kuroki and went over to the trees, placing her hand on the bark of one. Kuroki led the two boys away from her.

"Give her some alone time," Kuroki said when Ryoma glanced back at Sayuki. Ryoma turned back around, startled. Kuroki's back was still facing him... but she had an odd way of guessing what he was thinking, like Sayuki. Or maybe he was just predictable.

"So what's with this place?" he asked, still watching Sayuki as she went from tree to tree, gradually walking farther and farther away from them.

"Long story short, this is where the three idiot birds confessed to Sayuki after her parents died," Kuroki replied, knowing that Ryoma would understand the pain that the confessions would have caused Sayuki. "And she nearly died here from falling..."

"... Right," Ryoma answered, turning to Kuroki. "I'm... gonna go after her." He ran off and disappeared into the trees. Kuroki grinned at Tezuka, who looked mildly surprised.

"They'll be back," Kuroki said, humming quietly to herself. "He'll just say some annoyingly blunt stuff and drag her back here. Cause it doesn't matter how much he tries, Ryoma just _can't do romance._ I think it's a disability of ice cubes."

"Am I included in this group of 'ice cubes with disabilities'?" Tezuka asked. Kuroki stared at him.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you, Tezuka Kunimitsu, can be romantic?"

"..." If he were anyone else, he would have muttered something like, "on second thought..." As it was, he just turned away, but Kuroki understood.

"Hell yeah. That's what I thought."

* * *

"Sayuki," Ryoma murmured, patting the girl on the shoulder. She turned around, and he was relieved to see somewhat of a smile on her face. Maybe, he thought, maybe she still wasn't in negative. Maybe they wouldn't have to come back here the next day and go through the torture of getting her hyper.

"I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm still negative," Sayuki answered with a creepily sweet smile. "This is just the negative side that is bluntly honest with her evil intentions and covers it all up with a smile."

"As demonstrated," Ryoma muttered. Sayuki grinned back at him. "I heard from Kuroki."

"You hear everything from Kuroki," Sayuki answered, staring up at a tree. He followed her gaze and saw a bird's nest, with little chicks inside. "It's nothing new. I don't say anything so Kuroki blabs it all. So you're here to comfort me with more cheesy words?"

"Kinda," Ryoma answered with a smirk. "But with less cheese."

"Really now," Sayuki replied, looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Enlighten me then. Without the cheese, I'm afraid I'm lactose intolerant."

"That's a lie," Ryoma scoffed. "Besides, you can eat cheese even if you _are _lactose intolerant. Mada mada dane, Sayuki..."

"Wow, haven't heard _that_ one in a while," she answered, eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "Though I was hoping you'd come up with something new for a change."

"Those three aren't going to do the same thing again," Ryoma continued, ruffling her hair. "Cause I'm damned possessive, almost annoyingly so."

"I'll say," Sayuki muttered.

"Alright, cheese coming right up," Ryoma warned. Sayuki groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Spare me..."

"You'll never have to be afraid of falling again either," Ryoma said, ignoring her as he grabbed her hand and dragged her back to Kuroki and Tezuka. "Cause I'll always be here to catch you."

"... God damn, that _was_ full of cheese..."

* * *

"The little ones are back," Kuroki commented, smirking as Sayuki and Ryoma walked towards her and Tezuka. Ryoma scowled, but Sayuki merely looked around the clearing, as if, for the first time, truly taking in and appreciating the scenery.

"M'kay, so I think I can handle it tomorrow," Sayuki said absently as she watched some birds fly out towards the sky.

"Getting you hyper is still the worst idea I could ever think of though," Kuroki answered dryly. "It'll be better though... Dealing with you hypergative yesterday was annoying as hell."

"She's still negative, apparently," Ryoma corrected. "Only she's annoyingly blunt."

"I believe that that would be her normal personality," Tezuka answered.

"Either way," Kuroki cut in, "we're all going to suffer through hell tomorrow. Except for Sayuki. So why don't we all just sit down and enjoy the peace?"

"Fine with me, but it looks like your sisters stalked us here," Sayuki said absently, pointing over to the top of the hill, where Akai and Aoiri were standing. "I think they want to get you and Tezuka-senpai together."

"Oh, yay, more stress relievers!" Kuroki said cheerfully, cracking her knuckles. "Hiya, sisters! How are you doing today?" Tezuka, Ryoma, and Sayuki watched with amusement as Kuroki made her way over to her sisters, a murderous aura coming from her.

"You've seen her pissed off before?" Sayuki asked, humming to herself. Ryoma lay on his stomach next to her, resting his chin in his hand with a contented smirk on his face as he watched the pummeling with a sick fascination.

"Yes," Tezuka answered.

"Are you going to stop her?"

"... No."

Ryoma suppressed a snicker. Sayuki kept on humming. It took Tezuka a while to realize that it sounded like an odd mixture between a funeral march and Requiem for a Dream.

* * *

_There's probably a few mistakes in here but bleh. I don't feel like going back to double check._

_Oo, suspense. They're going to get Sayuki hyper... on purpose._

_And this is the place that was in the New Years special that was a semi-major spoiler that made it so that I couldn't put up the New Years Special. There's still very tiny spoilers in that, but do you guys want me to put it up instead of PMing me about me emailing it to you? Because fanfiction is mean and email addresses won't show up unless you put spaces like "insert email here something (dot) com." And I mean _spaces_, not underscores and stuff like that._

_Um... I don't have a lot to say other than homework sucks and I'll try to update on the upcoming four day weekend._

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	4. Chapter 3

_Whoo Hyper Sayuki let's DO THIS._

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

_Ryuu told me to put something for her, so... _Something.

* * *

When Ryoma woke up and saw that the sky was covered with dark clouds the next morning, he figured there was something ominous about that. He began changing when Sayuki didn't burst into his room to wake him up per usual, and he knew that today was going to be a very weird day.

He felt freaked out enough for the next decade when he found himself going to Sayuki's room to wake her up. The roles were reversed and he just _knew_ that something was messed up.

"Sayuki, wake up," he muttered, shaking the girl. She grumbled something incoherent and rolled over. Ryoma sighed. Now how did Sayuki always wake him up again...?

He yanked the covers off of her and let her roll to the ground with a thump. He sweat dropped when she continued to sleep. Turns out Sayuki was even harder to wake than he was...

Well, time to do things his own way.

Calmly, he gathered up all the sheets and pillows he could find in the room and began to pile them on the girl. The mountain was rather large, especially when he dropped that enormous dog plushie that Suigo had given her months ago on the top. Satisfied with his work, Ryoma headed downstairs for breakfast.

So maybe he had it coming to him when Sayuki finally hit him in the face with a pillow. He hadn't been expecting it at all, and he grumpily stomped back upstairs to put the pillow back. At least she was smirking now, not glaring at him.

When Ryoma returned downstairs, Sayuki was already strapping on her roller skates. He quickly slipped his feet into his shoes, yelled that he was leaving to no one in particular, and stepped outside with Sayuki. Momo was on his bike, waiting for them as usual.

"This weather sucks," Sayuki muttered as the trio made their way to school.

"At least it isn't raining," Momo said cheerfully. "Weather forecast said it'd clear up by the afternoon."

"Good," Ryoma murmured. "Don't want to deal with a hyper Sayuki outside in the rain."

"Wouldn't want to deal with a hyper Sayuki ever," Momo corrected. "Why? You guys planning a sugar party without me?"

"Not really," Sayuki answered. "More of a suicide mission."

"Sounds fun."

"Only if you're Sayuki..."

* * *

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on joining you three later today," Tezuka said calmly as he, Oishi, Fuji, Eiji, and Kuroki walked towards their next class.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, what!" Kuroki growled, turning towards him. "You can't ditch us! Misery loves company, didn't you know that? You gotta suffer along with me!"

"You already have Echizen to suffer with you," Tezuka pointed out. "And I have other business to attend to."

"That you just conveniently remembered about two seconds ago?" Kuroki grumbled. "There's no way you're getting out of this, even if I have to drag you there." With that, she strode ahead of the rest of the group, slamming the door in front of their faces. Oishi blinked in confusion as Eiji snickered and Fuji smiled knowingly. Tezuka merely sighed, shaking his head, and opened the door to their math class.

"What's up with you two?" Eiji asked teasingly as they took their seats. Kuroki ignored Tezuka when he sat down next to her, rather pointedly he thought.

"We have a little 'party' planned that involves getting Saiki-san hyper," Tezuka explained quietly to Eiji. He and Oishi winced sympathetically. They had all seen Sayuki hyper before, and only incredible people like Kaze or Fuji could deal with her without blowing up.

"Just you, Chibi, the Weasel Girl, and Sayuki-chan?" Eiji asked in a whisper as the teacher walked in. "Sucks to be you then."

"Which is why I'm not going," Tezuka replied quietly. Kuroki shot a quick glare at him at this statement and then turned to talk to Yukina as the teacher began shuffling through his notes. Eiji chuckled, shaking his head.

"Weasel Girl sure does get angry at you a lot-nya," he said sympathetically. Tezuka gave a noncommittal grunt and began to rummage around his backpack for a pencil.

Fuji watched all of this happen, laughing quietly to himself all the while. Oh, Sayuki's predictions about Tezuka and Kuroki would come true yet...

* * *

"Time to go commit suicide," Kuroki said in monotone as she and Ryoma made their way over to the clearing. "Yay..."

"Tezuka-senpai isn't coming?" Sayuki asked, looking around. Kuroki scowled.

"I'll drag him here, don't worry about it," she answered. "I pulled a couple of favors... Akai and Aoiri should be joining us too. And three others."

"Those three are coming too?" Ryoma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Figured they should get a chance to reminisce the good old times too," Kuroki answered. "They haven't been there in a while either."

"So us three, Suigo, Daichi, Kaze, Akai-san, Aoiri-san, and Tezuka-senpai," Sayuki repeated. "I'm gonna guess... You got Suigo and the others to drag Tezuka-senpai along?"

"Yeah, they owe me hell for a lot of different reasons," Kuroki replied. "And besides, the Eis Wurfel owes me for that one time he got sick and I had to take notes for him." Sayuki and Ryoma snickered at the memory. That trip had resulted in a rather interesting predicament for Kuroki. Kuroki glared at them.

"In any case..." They rounded another corner. "We're here. Ryo-ryo, you have all the sugary crap right?"

"Yeah, and my arms feel like they're on fire now," Ryoma muttered in reply, dropping the bag of candy and letting it roll all the way down into the valley.

"Mada mada dane, Ryoma," Sayuki smirked, skipping after the bag of candy. "You swing a tennis racket around every day for hours and you can't carry a bag of candy half a mile?"

"You try lifting it then," he shot back. "Seriously Kuroki, what the hell did you pack in that thing? It's like fifty pounds!"

"Way more candy than I probably should have," Kuroki answered thoughtfully. "Well, Sayuki's already digging in so I guess we should prepare ourselves..." She and Ryoma sat down on the hill, watching Sayuki as she literally swam around in candy, devouring insane amounts of sugar. Ryoma sweat dropped as Kuroki watched emotionlessly.

"How the hell can she eat so much and not get fat?" he asked. "She's gonna get a hell lot of cavities out of this..."

"Ibrushmyteeth soit'sOK, don'tworry aboutme!" Sayuki called cheerfully from beneath a pile of Kit Kats. Her mouth was already going at light speed as it always did when she was hyper.

"Oh God, it's starting," Kuroki muttered, laying on her back. "They better get here with the mirror and cameras..."

"Why did we need this crap again?" Suigo asked with annoyance as he dropped said mirrors and cameras beside Kuroki's head. She sat up, grinning when she saw Daichi and Kaze almost literally dragging Tezuka into the clearing, followed by Akai and Aoiri.

"Sayuki wanted to see if her eyes changed colors while she was hyper," Kuroki answered. "So the cameras and mirrors are to make sure that she can see her own eyes if they do change to their original colors."

"Well, biggest problem with that plan is getting her to sit still," Daichi commented, sweat dropping as he watched Sayuki leap from tree to tree, startling the squirrels and birds living in them. The battle cries and crazy whooping wasn't helping either. Everyone turned towards her as well and let out an exasperated sigh in unison.

"Why me?" he asked, still sweat dropping as Sayuki leaped out of the trees and began chasing some poor, innocent butterfly.

"Figured that if you couldn't do it, nobody could," Kuroki answered with a shrug. With a reluctant sigh, he made his way towards Sayuki, who was now angrily throwing rocks at the butterfly that wisely chose to fly far, far away. She was yelling something that he couldn't quite make out, but he was sure that it would be too asinine for him to understand even if his ears could keep up with her mouth.

"Sayuki, come over here for a minute," he said. She paused and turned to him, looking cutely innocent.

"Why?" she asked, dropping the rocks she had been about to throw as she skipped after Ryoma. "What'rewedoing?"

"We're gonna take some pictures," he said, deciding that honest was best. In her sugar-high state, he doubted that she would be able to remember the original reason she had consumed all that sugar. "It'll be quick, I promise."

"Okay, ifyousayso!" she giggled. As they approached the rest of the group, Kuroki nodded over towards her sisters and Daichi, Suigo, and Kaze. They formed a little circle around Sayuki to make sure that she didn't suddenly run off. Kuroki handed a camera to Tezuka.

"Picture time!" Kuroki said cheerfully. "First time the original finders of this secret spot have returned after all these years. A commemorative photo should be good, right?" Sayuki nodded so enthusiastically Ryoma wondered if her head would fall off. He stood next to Tezuka as everybody else gathered into a little group.

"Three... Two... One... Cheese," Tezuka said, pressing the shutter. For a fraction of a second, Ryoma thought he saw Sayuki's blinding grin change into a smirk. Ryoma couldn't help but smile himself.

_Cheese indeed,_ he thought to himself as he went over to the group. The twins and Suigo, Daichi, and Kaze stepped away, out of the frame. While Kuroki convinced Ryoma and Sayuki to let them take a picture of them kissing, Suigo quickly snatched up a camera, taking rapid and accurate shots of Sayuki's eyes.

"I don't know if your picture taking skills are from practice, pure luck, or from you being a stalker," Daichi muttered dryly. Suigo merely stuck his tongue out at him.

"I'm a prankster, so blackmail photos are a must," Suigo said. "And besides, I'm quick fingered."

"With all the sugar she's consumed today, we'd be lucky if it wears off by tomorrow," Kaze commented suddenly. Daichi and Suigo blinked, looking at their friend. Kaze often got off topic, but he was observant and insightful, if not a bit weird.

"Ah... that's true," Akai cut in, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "I might've brought too much. It's just that that's how much I usually eat in a day so..." She broke off, shrugging. Daichi gaped at her, and Suigo would've done the same had he not wandered out of earshot to take pictures from a different angle.

"That explains so much, and so little," Aoiri muttered. "So that's where all my candy went..." Her sister grinned.

"Alright, Eis, give me the camera," Kuroki said, smirking triumphantly. Tezuka obediently handed the camera over. "OK, lovebirds... Three... Two... One... KISS!"

Slightly annoyed at the command, Ryoma nevertheless leaned in, pressing his lips against Sayuki's, one hand cupping her face as his other arm wrapped around her waist. Sayuki almost sighed with contentment, wrapping her arms around his neck. They heard the click of the shutter and pulled apart almost immediately. Sayuki was far too jittery to stay still for so long, and they _really_ didn't want to be the subject of more teasing. They had gone through more than enough of that the past few weeks, thank you very much.

Suigo gave quick nod to Kuroki to tell her that he was done taking pictures as well. Kuroki cheerfully told Sayuki to "scram and do whatever the hell you want to do as long as you don't hurt yourself." Maybe she shouldn't have told the hyper girl that, because Sayuki immediately broke out into song.

"BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY, FLY AWAY! WINGS GO UP, WINGS GO DOWN! BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY, FLY AWAY! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA~"

It could hardly even be considered a tune. It didn't help that, under the influence of the sugar, Sayuki completely butchered the song. It took only thirty seconds of song for Kuroki to be reduced to a sobbing mess. Tezuka, Aoiri, and Daichi sweat dropped as they watched, Suigo and Akai soon joining Sayuki. Ryoma wandered off to find a tree to bang his head on.

Kaze just watched the chaos, munching on some Pocky that he had somehow gotten his hands on and quietly humming along.

Abruptly, Sayuki switched songs and began a round of Technologic that even Suigo couldn't keep up with. It was near impossible, since Sayuki seemed to be the only one with enough free time to memorize all the lyrics, and she was the only one with enough sugar in her system to sing it faster than their brains could keep up with.

"Buyituseitbreakit fixittrashitchange itmailupgradeit chargeitpawnitzoom itpressitsnap itworkit, quickeraseit writeitcutit pasteitsave itloaditcheckit quickrewriteit plugitplayit burnitripit draganddropit zipunzipit lockit fillitcallit finditviewit codeitjamunlockit surfitscrollit pauseitclickit crossitcrackit switchupdateit nameitrateit tuneitprintit scanitsendit faxrenameittouchit bringitpayit watchitturnit leaveit startformat it. TECHNOLOGIC~"

Kuroki had finally managed to pull herself together and was now watching her best friend drive everyone, yes, including Suigo this time, absolutely and utterly insane. She was exuding a sort of glacial coolness, not unlike Tezuka who was standing beside her.

"Tezuka, do you have a gun I could borrow?" she asked as Sayuki began her seventh round of Technologic.

"No," he answered. He vaguely wondered who Kuroki would murder if he did have a gun: herself or Sayuki. Probably both.

"No rope either?" she asked.

"No," he repeated. Okay, so if she was asking for a rope, she was probably going to commit suicide first. And then probably come back as a ghost or demon from Hell to strangle Sayuki.

As Sayuki began to laugh uncontrollably, writhing on the ground, out of breath but unable to stop, Tezuka began to think that suicide wasn't such a bad option after all.

"Has Sayuki finally lost her marbles?" Akai asked, sweat dropping as she poked the younger, laughing girl in the side. Sayuki managed to stop laughing enough to answer.

"I h-haven't lost m-my marbles!" she protesting, squirming around on the ground as she continued to giggle silently. "T-the p-people inside m-my head a-are p-playing w-with them!"

"Whatever you say," Aoiri answered, pulling her sister back. "Akai, could you call the psychiatric hospital?"

"Aoiri, you promised that you wouldn't send me there!" Akai protested.

"... Not for you, genius, for Sayuki," Aoiri grumbled, face palming. Really, her sister could be as unbearable as Sayuki on a sugar high at times...

"Can't we just get Ryo-ryo to shut her up?" Akai asked, gesturing over to Ryoma who was sitting, leaning against a tree, curled up in fetal position with his hands covering his ears. Daichi and Suigo weren't far behind him, and Kuroki had already been there, done that. Kaze was as indifferent as ever, and Tezuka had somehow managed to hold onto his sanity while still remaining "an idiotic Ice Cube," in Kuroki's words.

"At _least_ get him to do CPR on her?" Akai pleaded. "I mean, she looks like she's about to suffocate!"

Aoiri nudged Sayuki with her foot, agreeing with her sister that Sayuki looked rather breathless. Absently, Aoiri wondered if it was possible to die from laughter. If Sayuki didn't, Aoiri was sure that she could murder the girl at least to shut her up and disguise it as the girl losing her breath from a case of nonstop giggles...

"Kaze, canIhavea Pocky?" Sayuki asked, suddenly recovered from her laughter and innocently walking over to Kaze. The boy was about to hand her one when he was tackled by Kuroki, Daichi, and Suigo as Ryoma grabbed a hold of Sayuki's arms and help them firmly behind her back.

"No more sugar for you," Ryoma growled as Sayuki struggled. It was tough work trying to keep her still, and eventually Akai and Aoiri came to his aid. Kuroki told Tezuka to call Momo, Eiji, and Fuji.

"For backup to help us restrain Sayuki," Kuroki explained, tossing him her phone. Tezuka made the calls and the others took turns holding Sayuki back. It was tiring, but less mentally exhausting and painful for their ears. Kuroki told them to suck it up and think of it as training. Ryoma would've flipped her off if he hadn't been too busy trying to keep Sayuki still. Luckily, Suigo was standing nearby to do it for him.

When "backup" arrived, they saw an enraged Kuroki chasing Suigo every which way, the others hanging on to Sayuki for all they were worth, and Tezuka simply standing off to the side, watching the chaos. Kuroki calmed down long enough to explain their problem and then went on chasing Suigo. Tezuka had assured her that he had told them the long way here so they probably were never going to find their way back to the secret clearing after this.

"I think I know just the thing to knock Sayuki-chan out," Fuji said in that friendly yet somewhat scary smile of his. He pulled out a bottle of something that had terrified the people of Seigaku's tennis club for years...

"Why the _hell_ do you have a bottle of Inui Juice just lying around, Fuji-senpai!" Momo yelped, taking a few steps back. "That's not cool, just not cool at all!" Eiji was hiding behind him, whimpering. The others that recognized the juice had similar reactions, though Akai, Aoiri, and Kuroki merely watched their fear with some amusement.

"How bad could it be?" Kuroki asked, raising an eyebrow. "Apple, lemme have some."

Akai and Aoiri were much more wary of the juice after their sister had ran off into the woods screaming.

"Sayuki-chan, are you thirsty?" Fuji asked, smiling. Sayuki tilted her head to the side, watching him swirl the liquid back and forth.

"Yeah," she said, breaking out into a grin. Ryoma let one of her arms go and she grabbed the bottle, uncapped it, and took a drink.

_Please don't let her have an immunity like Fuji-senpai_, Ryoma prayed silently.

Thank God that she didn't. Sayuki remained unconscious for a while, long enough for everyone to get a break. Unfortunately, though she wasn't immune to the juice, apparently the effects weren't as strong on her. Or maybe it was simply the sugar. In any case, she woke up after a few minutes, still quite hyper.

Everyone continued to take turns restraining her as Fuji left to go get more juice from Inui. Kuroki finally came back from the forest, looking scarred for life.

"Never. Again."

"Next time you want to torture someone, just give them a cup of that crap," Akai said cheerfully. Kuroki shook her head.

"Even _I'm_ not that cruel," Kuroki grumbled, sitting down.

"Inui Juice _is_ bad," Ryoma muttered. "If even Kuroki wouldn't use it..."

"Damn, wouldn't want her to taste Aozu and the others," Momo agreed, sweat dropping.

"One thought: never, under any circumstances, let Sayuki sip Inui's stupid coffee mix."

"Agreed..."

Sayuki had suddenly stopped, staring up at the sky, fingers still twitching as if she would die if she wasn't moving every moment. She turned to Ryoma and said very seriously, "My bisexual cousin eats purple chickens, flies around in the air on a motorbike, lives in the city China in the country Alabama, and cries green eyeliner." And then she giggled, falling to the floor again. The laughter was unstoppable... and annoyingly contagious.

"Sayuki, you're insane," Daichi said, chuckling. "The only one who can drive Kuroki to _that_ extent of frustration." He nodded over to Kuroki, who was throwing rocks at trees. She had made a nice little niche in one of the trees.

"YOU GAY ROCK!"

"... Yeah, let's leave the crazy ladies alone," Suigo muttered, shaking his head. "Ugh, I can't zoom in close enough on this stupid picture..." He was fiddling with the cameras, trying to get to Sayuki's eyes. "Oh, here we go."

"I'MA STEAL YOUR CONDIMENTS!"

"... Let's just ignore Sayuki and check out the pictures," Daichi muttered, sweat dropping. The group, not counting Sayuki and Kuroki, gathered around the camera. Suigo zoomed in on the images.

"Okay, so in this picture her eyes are pretty much normal," Suigo muttered. He went on to the next image, the one where Ryoma and Sayuki were kissing. Ryoma blushed slightly but no one noticed, too absorbed in Sayuki's eyes.

"In this one... her eyes are like Echizen's, golden." Suigo went to the next image, a group picture. "But her eyes are brown like Daichi's...?" Everybody exchanged confused looks. Sayuki's personality wasn't changing, but somehow her eye color was changing without her noticing.

It was Tezuka who came up with the idea.

"Saiki, come over here for a moment," he called. Grinning, the girl hopped over.

"YeahTezuka-senpai whachawant?" she asked.

"Look at Echizen for a moment," he said. Slightly confused, she did as she was told. "Echizen, what color are her eyes?"

"... Golden, like mine," Ryoma answered. He was beginning to understand where Tezuka was going with this. "Hey Sayuki, could you look at Suigo for a second?" She blinked and turned to Suigo, whose eyes widened.

"Black... my color," Suigo muttered. "So..."

"Sayuki, look into this mirror and tell us what color your eyes are," Kaze instructed, handing her a mirror. Now thoroughly confused, she held up the mirror and stared at her reflection.

"Um... is it a bad thing if I can't tell what color they are?" Sayuki answered finally. Seemingly, the shock of what she was seeing had forced her out of her hyperness, although it was merely temporary.

"Whoa, that's freaky," Momo said, peeking at the mirror.

"Oh, now they're like mine-nya!" Eiji said as Sayuki looked up at them, confusion and bewilderment on her face.

"Okay, Sayuki seems sober now, what did I miss?" Kuroki asked, marching up to the group. "Why the hell does everyone look like Sayuki just declared that she had a third eye in her armpit?"

Everyone stared at Kuroki questioningly.

"Never mind I asked," Kuroki sighed. "Okay, what's up with Sayuki's eyes?"

"They change to whatever color is the thing that she's looking at," Tezuka explained.

"Like a mirror!" Akai chimed in. "Check it out!"

"But her personality stays the same," Aoiri murmured. "So her real eye color is... a reflection?"

"... Suigo, I think me and Sayuki are gonna drop by your place when we go back," Kuroki said, studying Sayuki's eyes. "We're gonna have to check this with your parents..."

"Alright, whatever," Suigo answered. "I think we have bigger problems to worry about right now though."

"Like?" Momo asked.

"Sayuki's getting away, for one," Suigo replied, pointing at Sayuki as she skipped out of the valley and behind a building.

"Oh, that's no big deal," Akai answered with a shrug. "The worst she can do is get herself arrested for, oh, I dunno, scaring innocent people with creepy, stalker-like grins?"

There was a moment of silence. And then the group took off after Sayuki.

* * *

Sayuki woke up the next morning with something she thought must have been similar to a hangover, not that she'd ever suffered from one. Her head was throbbing with pain, and she could hear her heart and blood pounding. The slightest movement sent a lightning bolt of pain behind her eyes. With a groan, she forced herself to sit up.

"Shit," she muttered, feeling the "click" in her head that told her that she was switching to negative. She was in too much pain to care. At an excruciatingly slow pace, she dragged herself out of bed and staggered over to the sink to splash cold water on her face. It helped some, but not much.

"Wonderful fucking way to start a day," she grumbled. "I can just tell that today is gonna be fan-tucking-fastic."

Sayuki scowled when she remembered that she had to go wake Ryoma up. In no mood to yell at him, she grabbed her pillow from her room, stepped into his room, and chucked it at his head with all her strength. She left without seeing if she had succeeded, but she figured that the yelp meant that she had.

"Never eating huge amounts of sugar ever again," she grumbled to herself, going down the stairs slowly, one step at a time. Every time she set down her foot, it sent a jolt of pain straight up to her head. "Never, never, never."

"Too much sugar?" Sayuki blinked and turned around to see Ryoma, watching her pitiful limping down the stairs. Sayuki scowled.

"I didn't want to do it either," she grumbled defensively, turning to go down the stairs again. "But I had to figure it out..." She heard a resigned sigh coming from Ryoma, and to her surprise, felt herself get lifted of the ground. She let out a yelp and glared at Ryoma, who was carrying her bridal-style and smirking at her.

"You were taking too long," he said simply, reaching the bottom of the stairs easily. "We had to get to breakfast sooner or later."

"Damn you and your stupid growth spurts," Sayuki grumbled as he let her down back on her feet. Though he did it as gently as he could, she still winced at the explosion of pain in her head. He looked at her, worry etched on his face.

"Maybe you should skip today," he said as they walked into the kitchen. "Get a few more hours of sleep." Sayuki made a face at the thought.

"I never sleep in with a headache," she answered, sitting down in the chair. "It just makes me feel worse. But I might take a day off..."

"Morning!" Nanjirou said, grinning as he popped into the kitchen. "How are the kids this morning?"

"Nanjirou-san... volume, please," Sayuki grimaced.

"Why? It never bothered you before," Nanjirou said with a shrug as he opened the fridge to raid its contents.

"She has a headache," Ryoma answered flatly. Nanjirou winced sympathetically.

"Stay home if you think it'll be too much," he said soothingly. Sayuki started to nod, then thought better of it.

"Yeah, that's sounding like a better idea every second," she mumbled. "But... I think I'll live."

"Don't put up a tough front if you don't think you can do it," Ryoma said, but he didn't object when she left with him. Sayuki was even more stubborn than he was at times.

"Yo-whoa, Sayuki, you don't look good," Momo said, pulling up on his bike. Sayuki merely nodded miserably.

"Killer headache from yesterday," she answered.

"Let Sayuki ride today," Ryoma said. "I'll walk. She forgot her roller skates anyways..."

"Sure," Momo answered. "Hop on."

Sayuki crawled onto the back of the bike and they took off. Though the bike was considerably better than walking, Sayuki still winced whenever they hit a bump.

When they finally arrived at the school gates, Sayuki nearly fell off the bike, Ryoma rushing in to catch her. She wobbled a bit as she got back on her feet, but she managed to make it to their first class.

As she went to her desk, Ryoma stayed behind at the teacher's desk, quietly telling their teacher that Sayuki wasn't feeling too well. Their teacher nodded and Ryoma took his seat next to Sayuki. She'd probably be annoyed if she found out that he had told their teacher, so he kept his mouth shut. In fact, throughout the whole day, Sayuki told no one but Suigo, which Ryoma found odd. Normally, if she would tell someone, it would be Kaze, but...

Ryoma watched Sayuki from the corner of his eye as she spoke with Suigo. Suigo looked somewhat worried and confused, but nodded when she asked him something. With a grateful smile, Sayuki turned to Ryoma.

"What was that about?" he asked. Sayuki shrugged nonchalantly.

"Nothing much," she answered. "Just-"

"Saiki-san," a sickeningly, false sweet voice sounded. Sayuki turned around.

"Gaichu," she answered politely. "What would you like?" Gaichu Megami was Ryoma's number one fangirl, and coincidentally, Megami's older sister, Gaichu Mayumi, was Tezuka's number one fangirl. Megami's best friends were the leaders of Kaze's, Daichi's, and Suigo's fanclub. A small world this one is...

"Could I talk with you after school?" Megami asked, a fake smile on her face. Sayuki glanced at Ryoma. He was busy glaring at his fangirls, who were slowly inching towards him. He didn't hear a thing. Sayuki smirked.

"Sure," she answered, turning back to Megami. "Where?"

"Behind the main school building, right after the last class," Megami answered with a cheeky grin. "See you there." Like magic, Ryoma's fangirls disappeared with her.

"What did she want?" Ryoma asked, turning back to Sayuki. She shrugged.

"Nothing much, just the usual bothering thing," she answered. "I'm gonna be late for tennis today, cause I think I'm gonna drop by the nurse's office for a pain killer. You can go ahead of me." Ryoma nodded, but looked at her worriedly.

"Take care of yourself and keep out of trouble," he muttered, patting her on the head. She smiled to herself as he moved on to talk to Kaze.

"Depends on what your definition of 'trouble' is..."

* * *

"So what do you... Okay, not cool." Sayuki stared in disbelief at the group standing in front of her. Predictably, Megami was there with all her friends, but extremely unexpectedly, there was also a whole group of scary, intimidating, buff guys standing in front of them. Megami had an infuriatingly smug look on her face.

"How much did she _pay_ you to do this?" Sayuki asked, shaking her head. The guys exchanged looks.

"You know what? Forget I asked, I really don't want to know."

"Boys," Megami said sweetly. They looked at her expectantly. She pointed upwards and moved her finger in a little circle. "A little late gift from me to her for getting her first boyfriend... Swirly time~ My girls and I will go take of her other things..."

Sayuki paled as another throb of pain sliced through her head.

"Okay, Ryoma was right... this was a really, really bad idea."

* * *

Ryoma glanced uneasily back at the main school building as Momo was chattering on about... something. Ryoma wasn't really paying attention. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was happening...

"-So where's Sayuki?" Ryoma snapped to attention as Momo said these words.

"Nn..." It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. "Getting a pain killer from the office... I think." Momo looked at him skeptically.

"You 'think'?" he repeated. Ryoma shrugged.

"You think is right." They turned around to face a very scared looking Suigo. And Suigo was hardly ever scared unless it concerned...

Ryoma took off without a second thought.

"Nurse's office!" Suigo yelled after him.

_And I told her to stay out of trouble! The idiot..._

Ryoma flung the door open, startling the nurse as she was tending to Sayuki. Sayuki was somehow soaked in water...

"Yes, I know I'm an idiot, you don't have to tell me," Sayuki said with a half-hearted grin as Ryoma opened his mouth to berate her. Scowling, he walked up next to her and sat down on the bed. The nurse didn't protest, simply drying Sayuki off with a towel and pretending like she couldn't hear a thing they were saying.

"What happened?" he demanded. Sayuki shrugged nonchalantly. Evidently the nurse had also given her pain killers since she wasn't wincing. He was close to shouting now... Now that he could see her closer, he could tell that she wasn't only soaked but covered in small cuts and bruises. He clenched his hand into a fist. Whoever did this...

"I was being an idiot," she answered. "Megami called me out and turns out it wasn't just her there. Big, burly, brawn but no brain guys were there too. There were a couple of swirlies and other stuff, and the girls sabotaged my stuff while I was getting my head stuffed down the toilet. End of story."

The nurse let out a startled gasp and Ryoma wholeheartedly agreed with her. He was sure that the nurse would report this and that punishment would strike down on Megami and all participants... But he was still furious.

"I guess this probably isn't the best time to tell you that I'm moving to Suigo's place temporarily, is it?" Sayuki asked, rather rhetorically, studying Ryoma's face. Ryoma gaped at her, rage forgotten for a moment.

"What!" Sayuki was... leaving?

"_Temporarily_, Ryoma, _temporarily_," she said, as if speaking to a child. "I don't want to leave either. Request from the family doctor though. They have to do check ups on my eyes and talk about those pictures you guys took yesterday... So they want me to stay with them for a couple of days." Ryoma shook his head, unwillingly comprehending. Of course, it made sense... But he remembered the one time that Sayuki had left before. One day and one night, and that was all it took for him to feel like living without Sayuki would be a never-ending torture.

The nurse stood up, apparently unwilling to intrude on their moment. She murmured a hasty apology about leaving, something about speaking to the principal (probably about the bullying that Sayuki had gone through, though Ryoma hardly thought that "bullying" was a strong enough word for the foul act). Ryoma immediately took over fixing Sayuki's wounds, cleaning out the cuts and putting band aids over them.

"I'm really sorry, Ryoma," Sayuki murmured. "No excuses. And as for the temporary moving thing, I'll still stay at your house whenever Suigo's parents don't need to check up on my eyes."

"... They're still going to pay," Ryoma mumbled, stroking her face with a thumb. "But I guess it wasn't entirely your fault... That headache must've been a killer."

"Mm," Sayuki agreed quietly.

"Isn't Suigo's house far away though?" he asked, feeling dread at being so far apart from her.

"I'll get Kuroki's sisters to drive me back and forth," Sayuki said, a glint of amusement in her eye. "Worst comes to worst, Akai-san will drive."

"... I don't think I'd want to be sitting in that car." Ryoma muttered. Sayuki smiled.

"It's no big deal, Ryoma," she said gently. "... I'll miss you too."

"I do every single moment," he murmured, leaning in to peck her on the lips. She grinned, though stopped because it made the cuts on her face hurt.

"Corny and cheesy, that's what you are," she said. "Moving onto a different subject though... I think you should go tell Kuroki what happened to me." Ryoma made a face.

"Why me?"

"Because she'll kill the person who told her and everyone else within a five-mile radius."

"And I repeat: why me?"

"You don't kill off the injured, now go!" she said with a smile, shoving him playfully.

"You're paying for my funeral."

"Ah, I can see the epitaph now..." Sayuki said dramatically, a smirk playing on her lips. "'A brave soul, but a corny, cheesy, and unoriginal boyfriend. Died in delivering news to his girlfriend's best friend.'"

"... Shut up."

* * *

Kuroki heaved a sigh, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. Ryoma waited for the explosion. And waited. And waited. And waited...

"Kuroki?" he asked tentatively. He was half afraid that the news had short-circuited her brain.

"Shut up," she snarled, a scowl on her face. "I'm trying to think of how to properly torture those bitches."

"Nn," Ryoma grunted. He decided to leave the punishment to Kuroki. It would probably turn out a hundred times worse than what they had done to Sayuki. Speaking of Sayuki...

"Sayuki's moving to Suigo's place," he said. Then he added, "Temporarily."

"Lemme guess, for her eyes?" Kuroki answered, snapping out of her furious silence. Ryoma nodded.

"Not the only reason though," Kuroki said thoughtfully. "Sayuki's a smart kid... I think she wanted to distance the two of you on purpose. Why?" she said, as Ryoma opened his mouth to ask. "Because when you become too close to a person, their good aspects seem to be a given and you focus on their bad points. It happens to everyone, even me and Sayuki." Kuroki shrugged. "It's not that she wants to leave, it's just that it's a wise decision."

Ryoma sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I can see where you're going..."

"Speaking of going, I gotta get home," Kuroki said, glancing at her watch. "I think my sisters should know about what happened to Sayuki. You go check up on her and take her back to your house so she can get moving to Suigo's. I'll be at your house at... six to help her out." Ryoma nodded and Kuroki waved briefly, then left.

"Home," Ryoma muttered. "Is supposed to be where the heart is... So my home is with Sayuki."

He turned, hands in his pockets, head bent toward the ground, making his way towards his home.

* * *

"Yo, Akai, Aoiri, where you guys at?" Kuroki asked, wiping her shoes on the mat in front of the entrance to her house. "Got some bad news, some worse news, and some great news."

"Well, we got some awesome news, some hilarious news, and some crazy news," Akai answered, poking her head around the corner, a phone in her hands. "Which do you want to hear first?" She tossed the phone to Aoiri, who appeared behind her.

"I dunno, go for it however you want," Kuroki answered with a shrug, slipping her feet out of her shoes. "Who's Aoiri on the phone with?"

"Our parents," Akai answered. "Anyways, the crazy news is that they're coming back next week to stay for two weeks."

"Seriously?" Kuroki asked, eyes wide. She hadn't seen her parents in...

"Seriously," Aoiri answered, hanging up the phone. "They're calling back in a few minutes, so don't complain about not being able to speak with them."

"Awesome news is that we have a jar of pickles," Akai said with a grin.

"Hilarious news..." Aoiri shrugged. "It's better if you hear from our parents yourself."

The phone rang again and Kuroki ran to pick it up.

"Mom? Dad?"

* * *

Sayuki paused, glancing up from her bags with a frown.

"What's up?" Ryoma asked without looking up, tossing her school uniform at her. It hit her in the face and she scowled at Ryoma, who merely smirked and shrugged in reply.

"I have a sudden craving for pickles," she answered, stuffing her uniform into her bag.

"Mm," Ryoma answered. He glanced up. "Did you get your negative fixed from when you crashed?"

"I guess the sugar must've fixed that," Sayuki replied. "I still demand that you replace my cookie stash though." Ryoma stood up with a slight sigh, walking out of Sayuki's room, ruffling her head as he passed her.

"Hey!" she protested, fixing her short hair, staring after him. She went back to packing and he returned moments later.

"Your pickles," he said, handing her a jar of the stuff. "And your cookies." Sayuki grinned, taking the package.

"You have a secret cookie and pickle stash too?" she asked, turning to him. He was sitting on her bed, chin resting in hand. He raised an eyebrow.

"Pickles were in the fridge... And no, I don't have a cookie stash. Not everyone has a sweet tooth like you, Sayuki," he answered, reaching back and tossing her another handful of her clothes. "Watch out for your cuts." She looked at him questioningly.

"So the cookies came from...?"

He merely smiled at her in reply. "That's one secret you'll have to guess yourself. You know me well enough." She frowned and returned to her packing, pondering where he got the cookies from in such a short amount of time.

Ryoma watched her, a smile spreading on his face.

_I got them for you a long time ago...

* * *

_

"Kuro, dear!" her mother's voice crackled over. "Aoiri suddenly hung up on us, we just had to call back! Did anything happen? Are you alright? How is sweet little Sayuki?"

"Slow down, Mom," Kuroki said, a smile on her face despite the exasperation of her voice. "Nothing happened, it was just Aoiri being rude. I'm fine. Sayuki got herself a boyfriend... Well, you'll see when you guys come back next week. Where's Dad? Is he OK?"

"I'm right here, sweetie," her father's baritone answered. "I'm glad to hear that you're alright. So your sisters told you that we're coming back?"

"A-nd, speaker phone!" Akai grinned, snatching the phone from her sister's hands and pressing a button. "Yes, Daddy, we told Kuro~"

"Good," their parents answered in unison.

"Oh, Kuro, you won't believe what we have for you!" their mother gushed. "An iPad that's becoming so popular in America, and a new laptop! You won't have to use your old cell phone anymore either-"

"Mom!" Kuroki protested. "I already told you, you and Dad don't have to get me stuff!"

"Kuro Kistune, we _want_ to," her dad said patiently, as if they had gone through this many times before. "Your mother and I don't spend so much time at home, so we want to make sure that you're still alright." Kuroki sighed, giving up.

"And don't get your mother started on the things she has for Sayuki," her father warned. With a squeal of delight, her mother delved into a long list of expensive products she had gotten for Sayuki. Kuroki smiled. Her parents loved Sayuki as if she were their own daughter, almost adopting her into the family when her own parents died. They had been best friends with Sayuki's parents, just like how Sayuki and Kuroki were inseparable.

"Oh, you mentioned that Sayuki had gotten a boyfriend, right?" her father cut in, interrupting her mother's ramblings. Her mother conveyed no signs that she minded the interruptions, instead latching onto this topic with renewed excitement.

"Ooo, that's right!" her mother prattled on joyfully. "We can't wait to see her when we get back! Speaking of which, Kuro, dear, have you gotten a boyfriend yourself yet?" Kuroki groaned and rolled her eyes. Without fail, her parents would pester her on this subject every time. Before she could utter the word, "No," however, Akai and Aoiri cut in, yelling at the phone:

"YES!"

Kuroki froze.

"She DID!" her parents shrieked. Kuroki shocked her mind back into working order.

"NO!" she yelled, but they didn't hear her over their own endless stream of chatter. There was no room for her to correct them.

"-so we can't wait to see your boyfriend when we get home!" her mother ended cheerfully. "Don't forget, we're coming next week~" With that, they hung up. Kuroki slammed the phone down and glared at her sisters. They grinned sheepishly at her.

"Oops?"

"You two are so freaking dead, after those god damned fangirls!"

* * *

"So... uh..." Akai flinched as Kuroki glared at her. The three sisters were sitting in the twins' car, driving towards the Echizens' residence to pick Sayuki up. Aoiri was at the wheel, paying no attention to her sisters.

"You mentioned good, bad, and worse news?" Akai asked tentatively.

"Bad news: fangirls took revenge on Sayuki," Kuroki said in monotone. "They beat her up beyond hell. Worse news: she's temporarily moving to Suigo's place. Great news: we get to beat up the fangirls in return."

"Shit, what the hell, and YES!" Akai grinned. The smile was wiped off her face when Kuroki glared at her again.

"Terrible news: Mom and Dad think I have a boyfriend and I probably have to get someone to pretend to be my imaginary boyfriend."

"That's not so terrible," Aoiri muttered.

"If you weren't driving, I'd punch you for that."

* * *

_Creidts: The Butterfly Song was created by the boys in my PE class last year. Everytime we did the "butterfly position" while stretching, they'd sing the song. A tribute to them and the wonderful golden year of seventh grade, I guess. xD Technologic (and Daft Punk!) is awesome. I bet that Akai and Aoiri could sing it backwards. And sideways._ "_You gay rock!" is quoted from KevJumba in his video "That's Not Gay!" KevJumba is awesome._

_So... yeah. Hyper Sayuki. Which one do you like more, this chapter's Hyper Sayuki or the Halloween Special one? XD Inui Juice is AMAZING. Hangover Sayuki is not very smart. And Kuro's parents! And temporary boyfriend! Ohmagosh I wonder who could POSSIBLY end up being her imaginary boyfriend **coughkucough nicoughmi coughstucough **I SAID NOTHING._

_On Updates: In any case... I've been trying to update a chapter once every two weeks, but my science teacher is crazy and assigns us one huge project right after another, and since it's second semester Geometry is weighted more and and I need to stop complaining about school. BUT STRESS. D: (no i still haven't started the christmas special sorry :C)  
_

_I'm really sorry guys, I'll try to keep updating in between school and crap, but I might not be able to stick to my "one-every-two-weeks" plan, especially since ODL's chapters are so much longer than FSC's. Very worst case, I might start updating once a month. :( SORRY!_

_**headdesk **School I hate you so much along with your projects and homework and tests and EVERYTHING_

_But let's end this on a happy note. Sayuki has her pickles. Yes, this might become a running joke. x3 If you don't get it, you probably haven't read FSC._

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	5. Chapter 4

_No I'm not late there's still one day left shaddup._

_Sorry guys, I would've liked to update a LOT sooner, but Writer's Block. All those times I've been complaining about WB don't even BEGIN to compare to this time's. Hopefully it's worn off by now, though, so the updates should be coming a bit faster. The twelve page chapters don't help. (This chapter is 26 pages after adding in the spaces, in 10 Comic Sans font. Yeah.)_

_Anyways, enjoy!_

_-Kai_

...I am posting something because Kai forced me too...while I was in the bath too. *glares at Kai*

So, hope you enjoy and reviews are **always** welcome.

Now, let me go murder Kai for disturbing my bath.

~Ryuu

* * *

"Just a warning, Suigo," Ryoma said, dropping the last bag down at Sayuki's feet. They were standing in front of Suigo's house, Kuroki discussing something with Sayuki that was making the older girl scowl but the younger one laugh like never before.

"Yeah?" Suigo asked, grunting as he heaved the bag onto his shoulder.

"Sayuki doesn't sing in the shower. She sings right _after_ her shower." Ryoma frowned. "Badly. I think she does it on purpose so we let her take a longer shower. Anything to get away from the singing." He ducked without a backwards glance, dodging Sayuki's blow to his head. She scowled and turned back to Kuroki. Suigo blinked.

"Uh... Thanks for the advice?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And knock. _Always_ knock."

"What, you walked in on her changing or so-" Suigo began with a grin.

"_Worse._ There is always _much, much _worse. Just... trust me, okay? _Knock_." Ryoma looked absolutely serious.

"... You're scaring me, pal."

"O-kay, time to get settled in!" Sayuki announced cheerfully. She grabbed her bag from Suigo and fell flat on her face from the weight. Suigo and Kuroki burst out into laughter, and Ryoma had a smirk plastered on his face that he could not wipe off as he helped Sayuki up.

"This thing is heavy," she grumbled, dropping it on Suigo's foot to shut him up. He yelped and leaped back, grabbing his injured foot. She grinned and Kuroki's laughter increased in volume.

"And Kuroki, good luck with finding a temporary boyfriend," Sayuki smirked, turning around to face her best friend. Kuroki's grin was quickly replaced with a scowl. Ryoma and Suigo blinked in confusion.

"I'll explain later," she grumbled. "Go on ahead, Sui-brat. Take care of Sayuki, but remember: it's not honorable to steal someone's girlfriend under such unavoidable circumstances."

"What do you take me for!" Suigo snapped. He patted Ryoma on the shoulder reassuringly. Ryoma stared at the appendage like it was a maggot. "Ryo-ryo here and I are buddies! Respect and Honor here!"

"... Did you just name Ryo-ryo 'Respect'?" Kuroki asked blinking.

"I sure as hell did, now get out of my face before I stuff Sayuki full of sugar. We have MOVING IN to do!"

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Be- _crash. In his attempt to slam his fist down on the offending alarm clock, Ryoma had overextended his arm and ended up falling to the floor. Scowling and rubbing his head, he pulled himself up onto his feet.

He blinked at the time that his clock read. It was fifteen minutes earlier than its usual ringing time. Deciding it must have been a mistake on his part, he climbed back into bed and hid under the covers, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep before Sayuki stormed in and dragged him out of bed.

A minute passed... two... he lost count. Uneasy, he threw the covers back and checked his clock. Now was the time that his clock normally would have rang. Sayuki usually appeared promptly afterwards... Then he remembered.

Day one without Sayuki. He had completely forgotten.

Ryoma sighed. The thought was daunting... Just getting up every morning would be a challenge. Not to mention... he had gotten to used to being around Sayuki that if she wasn't there to comment on his idiocy or make some asinine statement, the whole world felt rather out of place, leaving a gap in his mind and heart where she should have been. And he realized just how tough it would be to live apart from Sayuki. It hadn't even been 12 hours and he already missed her.

He stared out the window, unwilling to leave the sanctuary of his room just yet.

"Sayuki... what are you doing?"

* * *

Suigo paused in front of the door which led to the room where Sayuki was staying. From Ryoma's mutterings to himself about, "that idiotic, multiple personality disorder, annoying cheerful, pisses-me-off-in-the-mornings girl," Suigo had figured that Sayuki was a morning person. She still hadn't come out of her room yet, though, and Suigo was by no means what you would call an early riser.

Remembering Ryoma's advice from yesterday, Suigo knocked, calling her name. There was a murmur of assent and he opened the door. He found Sayuki sitting cross-legged on her bed, staring out the window, never blinking.

"Breakfast's ready," Suigo said, slurring his words as he did when he was sleepy.

"Mm," was Sayuki's only reply. She didn't turn from the window. Suigo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest rather impatiently.

"R'you coming r'not?" he grumbled. She waved a hand at him. He sighed and walked over, sitting next to her on the bed. He squinted out the window, trying to determine what she was staring at so intently.

"You doing this all morning?" Suigo asked, unable to discern anything out of the ordinary. Sayuki nodded slowly. With a huff of impatience, he shoved her so that she had no choice but to turn and glare at him.

"Dunno what the point of staring outta window is," Suigo said. "Probably seeing things only you see, I dunno. But you're going to be late. You're going to be later than _Ryoma_ for once." This seemed to startle Sayuki back into reality and she followed Suigo out of the room after one last, backwards glance out the window.

"So what were ya looking at, anyways?" Suigo asked, curious. Sayuki opened her mouth as if to answer, then broke out into a sneeze. Suigo jumped away. Wiping her nose, Sayuki answered his question with a knowing smile:

"You know that feeling you get when you know you're forgetting something? Seems that person remembered."

Suigo stared at her, confused. She only grinned and went on ahead. He sighed and shook his head, following after her.

"I'll never understand you," he muttered.

"I wouldn't be here if you could."

* * *

Ryoma entered the classroom feeling like his head was stuffed with cotton, barely able to keep his eyelids apart. He was so tired that he barely acknowledged his friends and classmates and staggered over to his desk, burying his head in his arms that formed a pillow. Everyone was wise enough to let him wallow in his exhaustion and loneliness.

He couldn't remember the last time he felt so tired. He had no idea how he had managed to drag himself though breakfast without collapsing and freaking his mom out. He concentrated on this exhaustion, letting it wipe out all of his other feelings, ignoring the pangs of emptiness he had experienced since this morning.

He jerked his head in the direction of the clock. Perfect. He could probably catch fifteen minutes of sleep before the teacher walked in to start class.

Ryoma let himself drift off into the blissful thing called sleep...

* * *

"Oh, come _on_." Ryoma blinked slowly and looked up at the source of the exasperated voice, vision blurry and eyes bleary.

"Can I not get away with _one_ day without having to wake you up in the morning?" Sayuki continued, a smile on her face despite her annoyed tone. Ryoma smirked sleepily back.

"Nah, not really." He leaned back with a yawn. "Has class started yet...?" Sayuki shook her head.

"From what Sakuno-chan and the others have told me, you looked terrible when you walked in," she said. Ryoma shrugged sheepishly.

"You look hella tired yourself," Ryoma commented, pointing at the dark circles under her eyes.

"Unlike you, I can function without a night of sleep," Sayuki said, waving her hand. Ryoma frowned but didn't pursue the topic.

"You need a haircut again," he said simply. "You're starting to look like a girl again." Part of the deal that let Sayuki in on the tennis team was that she had to disguise herself as a guy. Sayuki frowned, fingering her hair.

"You think so?" she asked. "I'll get Kuroki to cut it..." Ryoma stifled another yawn. He was still tired, but the appearance of Sayuki had at least taken away the empty feeling. He stared at her, trying to memorize her face, burn the image into his mind so he could think of her instead of want her while he was alone.

"AGH!" Sayuki and Ryoma jumped and turned to the source of the cry. Suigo looked traumatized.

"What's up?" Sayuki asked, blinking.

"This is not possible," Suigo muttered. "Gotta be a dream... yeah..." Ryoma scowled.

"Spit it out already," he grumbled.

"YOU!" Suigo yelled, pointing at Ryoma like he was a demon from hell. "I can't believe you... you..."

"I... what?" Ryoma asked, blinking. He turned to Sayuki, who shrugged.

"Did you do anything to piss him off?" she asked.

"Not that I remember," Ryoma answered. He thought back and corrected himself. "Not that I remember doing on _purpose_. Pissing people off is kind of second nature to me."

"That, I can believe," Sayuki muttered. "Arrogant, cocky, self-absorbed little freaking tennis prince..." Ryoma suppressed a grin.

"Yeah, ignore me," Suigo muttered. "Because I have absolutely no importance to the love-sick couple that can't seem to do anything except insult each other with inside jokes that everyone else can understand."

"... Suigo, that made no sense whatsoever. Just tell us why you're freaking out already, would you?"

"Fine," he huffed. He glared at Ryoma, then at Sayuki. "Because _you_ kept staring out the window," he growled, jabbing his finger at Sayuki, "_he_," Suigo now pointed at Ryoma, "got to school _before us._"

There was a silence as Suigo let this sink in.

"Oh. My. GOD. YOU'RE RIGHT." Sayuki twitched and stared at Ryoma, who was sweat dropping and debating whether to laugh or bang his head on the desk.

"AGH!" Sayuki and Suigo yelled, frustrated and both glaring at Ryoma.

"THIS! Defies all rules of logic, physics, and reason!" Sayuki said, shaking Ryoma vigorously by the shoulders. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS! THE UNIVERSE IS NOW SPINNING BACKWARDS!"

"His head will be spinning detached on the ground if you don't stop shaking him," a dry voice commented. Sayuki let go of Ryoma and turned to Kaze.

"Hey, Kaz," Suigo said, throwing an arm around Kaze's shoulders. He stared at Ryoma like a dead dog. "You need to reprogram that kid's alarm clock. Just to make sure that he doesn't do this again. Because, I mean, we're all doomed to die because of what he did, might as well make sure he doesn't make the same mistake."

"Our deaths will be all the more gruesome," Sayuki said sadly, shaking her head.

"I'll consider it," was Kaze's only reply.

Ryoma stared at them.

"You're all crazy."

* * *

"Morning kids, please shut up and sit down," their teacher announced as he entered the room. "Take out your textbooks and turn to- yes, Saiki-san? Is there a problem?"

"Uh, yeah," Sayuki said, eyeing a lump of... something where her desk would have normally been. "My desk kind of looks like a professional sumo wrestler took a jackhammer and smashed the desk after sitting on it, and a baby with Herculean strength and an amazing imagination, armed with a hot glue gun and a welding rod, attempted to reassemble what was left of it."

"That is... a very detailed description," the teacher said, walking over. Ryoma, Daichi, and Sakuno sweat dropped staring at the desk(?). Kaze and Suigo were crouched beside it, Kaze apparently dismantling it in his mind as Suigo poked it with a broken part of the desk.

"That does appear to be a problem," the teacher said, as if he were talking about something as ordinary as the weather. "I will ask for a replacement to come at lunch. In the meantime, you can borrow my chair."

"Thanks," Sayuki grinned. Everyone loved the teacher's chair and tried to steal it at regular intervals. I mean, who _doesn't_ love those rolly chairs?

"Well then..." Sayuki murmured, swiveling from side to side in the chair. She glanced around the classroom, tapping the end of her pencil thoughtfully on her knee. "Who could be this mysterious sumo-baby-wrestler...?"

* * *

Megami glowered at the slip of paper that sat on her desk, staring innocently (read as cheekily) back at her. With a snarl, she crumpled the paper in a fist and chucked it into the trash bin, stomping angrily to her next class as her friends tailed her, trying to find out the reason for her anger.

"Was that worth having your desk destroyed?" Ryoma asked quietly, a smirk on his face.

Sayuki smiled.

* * *

_Hai~ Megami-chan!_

_Well, you certainly did find a very inventive way to twist the old "write mean things on victim's desk" plot! A+ for the effort, D- on anonymity. In the end, I still win though. I love this swivel chair. Try harder next time!_

_Just a reminder... Every time you pull one of these tricks, you're just making your own demise more and more certain. Only a word of advice, keep up the fun!_

_~ S A Y U K I _

* * *

"Well, okay, this game is getting a little bit old," Sayuki muttered, taking a step back from the pile of dirt and broken shards of a pot. The pot had fallen from overhead and would've hit Sayuki if Ryoma hadn't been trailing behind and seen the pot early. Scowling, Ryoma jogged up to catch up with her.

"This is, what, the fourth time?" he asked, looking up. He caught a glimpse of Megami's friend's terrified face peeking out the window before she ducked away. "They do realize that no matter how hard-headed you are, you could die from this?"

"Probably not," Sayuki said quietly. Ryoma looked at her... she was trembling. She lifted a hand, clenched it into a fist to stop it from shaking. She glanced up at Ryoma, face carefully blank, but her voice as shaky as her knees were.

"I am an idiot," she said. "Even more so than you. I shouldn't have provoked her. This is scary..." Wrapping her arms around herself, her legs gave out and she collapsed on the ground.

"You're the one scaring me," Ryoma muttered, hugging her gently. He blinked when Sayuki didn't reply.

"Sayuki...?"

* * *

"... knew that getting her hyper was a bad idea! I wouldn't be surprised if her amnesia kicked in too!"

"None of us are happy about this Suigo, you know that! Calm down, yelling isn't going to help her."

"... I'm not trying to blame anyone, Daichi. But it's been one thing after another... her headache, that Gaichu bitch and her cronies, and now this..."

"I get it Suigo, but- Echizen, what's up?"

"She's waking up..."

Sayuki groaned, opened her eyes. Her blurry vision slowly came into focus as she turned towards Ryoma.

"What...?" she asked, the word coming out slurred. "Ryo... where?"

"School's infirmary," he answered. "You passed out from overuse of your eyes... or so those two are saying." He nodded over his shoulder. Sayuki sat up, supporting her weight on her elbows, on the bed to get a better look.

"Suigo, Daichi..."

"Because they're the ones that heard the most from Suigo's parents," Ryoma said. "By the way... the Gaichu and everyone else that got caught are suspended for two weeks, and they're talking about giving them a harsher punishment. In any case, Kuroki's already planning something, so..." He shrugged. Sayuki sighed and fell back onto the bed.

"Tell her to take it easy, alright?" Sayuki said, staring at the ceiling. "Don't want her getting in trouble..."

"Sayuki, you should leave early today," Daichi cut in. "Suigo's parents mentioned a checkup..." Sayuki nodded and turned to Suigo.

"I'll make it by myself, don't worry about it," she said as Suigo opened his mouth to offer taking her back. She swung her legs off the bed and got up, stretching.

"Take care," Ryoma said, patting her on the shoulder. She grinned and pecked him on the cheek. Daichi and Suigo coughed, looking away from them.

"Worst that could happen is me fainting in the car, since I'm getting Akai-san and Aoiri-san to pick me up," she said. "Like I said, don't worry."

"We're worrying," the boys answered in unison. They looked at each other strangely and Sayuki left, laughing.

* * *

"_That's_ your explanation as to why Sayuki isn't here," Kuroki said in monotone. Ryoma shrugged, walking past her towards the tennis courts. She scowled and marched after him.

"Damn the Gaichus," she muttered. "The older one is pissing me off too."

"Nn... Is that new?" Ryoma answered, dropping his bag on the ground next to the bench. He rummaged around for a moment and pulled out his racket. "I'm going to visit Suigo's after practice." With that, he went to line up with the other regulars to receive their instructions.

Kuroki sighed and jammed her hands into her pockets. She turned her face up to the sky as if to say, "_Why, God, why!"_

"Sayuki the idiot goes off provoking an angry fangirling bitch... Damn, I think Ryoma's arrogance is rubbing off on her." She dropped her gaze to the ground, then looked straight forward with a determined grin.

"One more chance for the mini-Gaichu before I go shove her own medicine down her throat..."

* * *

"Adorable, short-tempered, like-a-half-drowned-pissy-cat little sister~" Akai called from the living room. Kuroki let out a hiss of frustration and threw the butcher knife in her hand at the cutting board and left the kitchen.

"What the hell do you want, my selfish, good-for-nothing, lazy, slacker elder sister?" she asked impatiently, hand on her hip.

"Are we a little teapot?" Aoiri grinned, glancing up from the TV screen. She sat cross-legged on the couch, facing her twin sister who was similarly seated.

"I'm making you two lazy asses dinner, so make it snappy unless you don't want to eat," Kuroki grumbled impatiently. "So what is it?"

"We know you're really mad about the Gaichu-beating-up-Sayuki-chan thing," Akai said, examining her nails. "So we just wanted to let you know that we're ten times as pissed and ready to assist you in revenge."

"That, and we'll only let you do anything short of murder," Aoiri added. "We wouldn't our dear little sister arrested for homicide, would we?"

"Who would cook for us!" Akai said dramatically, eyes full of tears.

"This little sister who is apparently good for nothing but food is now going to bed without making your dinner."

"WAIT COME BACK, WE WERE KIDDING!"

* * *

"So..." Suigo watched Sayuki. He sat cross-legged on her bed as she stared intently at her sketchbook, apparently drawing something.

"Hm?" she asked absently, continuing to sketch.

"What did my parents say?" he asked. Sayuki paused, then set the book and pencil aside with a sigh.

"A few things," she said. "I'm not in the mood to say right now though... besides, I'd have to explain to Kuroki and Ryoma later so I'd rather do it all at once. Capice?" Suigo shrugged.

"Fine with me," he said, rolling off the bed and onto his feet. "I'm off to go do homework..."

"Suigo, I'm not going to school tomorrow," Sayuki called as he exited the door. "Your parents have to double-check some stuff."

"Alright, I'll bring you tomorrow's stuff then," he said, waving a hand.

"Bring Ryoma's!" she yelled. "Your handwriting sucks!"

"Speak for yourself!"

"Hey, since when does my handwriting look like I use my foot to write with!"

* * *

"So, how do you want to deal with the mini-Gaichu?" Kuroki asked, placing the plates of food on the table.

"Well, if we're going to take her version of things to a whole new level..." Aoiri trailed off thoughtfully.

"Couldn't we just get Ryo-ryo to tell her that he hates her?" Akai said. "I mean, that wouldn't be untrue and it'd hurt her the most right?"

"True, but I wanna do that last," Kuroki said. "You know, build up to the moment- hang on, Sayuki just texted me."

_Kuroki, don't do anything to Gaichu Megami. Not even getting Ryoma to tell her that he hates her. Just ignore. I'll take care of it._

_I swear I won't do anything idiotic like provoking her again._

Kuroki scowled and put her phone away. "I swear, that girl is like a mind-reader or something..."

"So what'd she say?" Akai and Aoiri asked.

"We can't touch the Gaichu at all," Kuroki grumbled. "Which leaves me with a bunch of anger and no outlet."

"Neh, you still have to find a temporary boyfriend in a week," Akai pointed out.

"... Thank you for reminding me of something extremely unpleasant..."

"You're welcome."

"..."

"Sis, sarcasm is outdated."

* * *

"Well, I'm leaving for school," Suigo said, exiting the house. Sayuki grinned.

"Before you go, I forgot to tell you something," she said. "First, if Ryoma's sleeping in the classroom, wake him up for me. How you do it doesn't matter. Just no exploding chalk, okay?"

"Darn, there's a week's worth of work gone to waste," Suigo answered sarcastically. "Seriously, it was a one time prank. Are you ever going to let that go?"

"Secondly," Sayuki continued, ignoring Suigo. "Remember how grumpy Kuroki was when she was helping me move in?"

"Yeah, what was all that about anyways?" Suigo asked.

"Turns out that-"

* * *

"My parents are coming back in six days and I have to get a temporary pretend boyfriend because my stupid sisters somehow got the idea into their brains that I'm finally dating," Kuroki grumbled.

Eiji blinked.

"And... You're asking me-nya?" he asked.

"Pretty much, Kitty Boy, I'm glad your brain actually works."

"Weasel Girl, I think we have more of a sibling rivalry relationship."

"True enough," Kuroki said with a shrug. "You can at least help out though."

Eiji grinned. "Let's see... Why don't you ask Tezuka?"

"Hell to the no. Do you _want_ do go back to the hospital?"

"Hey, it was just a suggestion," Eiji shrugged. "Other than that, there's Momo and Kaidoh but I don't think you guys will get along well enough to pull off the boyfriend-girlfriend feeling."

"Not to mention that I'll probably never go out with a guy younger than me," Kuroki grumbled. "I had the traditional thing almost literally beaten into me by my parents, since they spoil me too much, so they want someone who will 'take care of me'." She looked sickened by the idea.

"Then Taka-san's out, cause he's nice and all but he's too shy," Eiji said. "... You really don't have very many friends outside of the ones than Sayu-chan's friends to you-nya."

"Shut up and keep listing."

"Just stating a fact," Eiji grinned sheepishly. The first bell rang and the two began to make their way towards their classroom.

"Inui?"

"Do I _look_ like I'd ever date that guy?"

"Oishi?"

"..."

"You're right. That leaves Fuji."

"Apple?" Kuroki looked skeptical. Sure they were friends, but she didn't think that they'd be able to act out anything past a platonic level.

"Considering your other options, I'd say he's the best bet-nya," Eiji said.

"I guess..."

* * *

"... not, the sadistic bastard," Kuroki grumbled.

"Why, did he turn ya down?" Eiji grinned.

"More like redirected me to Eis," she muttered. "I didn't think that Apple was with the rest of you guys in trying to push us together."

"Well if it's not Fuji, then it's Tezuka," Eiji stated matter-of-factly. "So go ask him."

"Like I said, _hell_ no. I'm going to ask the others first."

Eiji shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

* * *

"... Suigo, I thought I told you _no exploding chalk_."

She, Suigo, and Ryoma were sitting in Ryoma's room where he was grumpily recounting the epic tale of how Suigo had woken him up.

"Hey, it didn't explode!" Suigo protested.

"Yeah, it only spontaneously combusted into a pile of dust all by itself," Ryoma answered sarcastically.

"Details, whatever," Suigo said, waving a hand. "Why are we in Ryo-ryo's room anyways? And where the hell are Dai, Kaz, and the very violent lady?"

"We're in Ryoma's room because Nanako-san made cookies," Sayuki said. "And because I need to explain what your parents told me about my eyes after examining them today. Daichi and Kaze are on their way, and I think Kuroki's trying to find herself a boyfriend. She'll be here soon."

"Yeah, about that," Suigo broke in with a smirk. "We're getting her with the emotionally constipated guy right?" There was a knock at the door.

"... is our goal," Ryoma said, standing up to to open the door. "How we do it is the problem." He nodded his thanks to Nanako and took the plate of cookies. Suigo leaped up and practically inhaled half the plate before Sayuki tackled him and snatched a few for herself.

Ryoma grabbed the cookies out of her hand and took advantage of his status as tallest person in the room by holding the cookies high above his head where Suigo and Sayuki couldn't reach.

"Watanuki, why are you such a glutton anyways?" Ryoma asked, setting the cookies on top of a cabinet. Sayuki pouted and demanded that he stopped being such a jerk and share the cookies. Suigo scowled.

"Because I'm a growing boy who needs food," Suigo answered. "Now hand over the freaking cookies before I get more exploding chalk."

"Suigo, I thought you promised not to make anymore of your homemade chalk." The three looked up as Daichi and Kaze entered the room.

"What's the story with that anyways?" Ryoma asked.

"He replaced all the chalk at our old school with the kind that goes boom," Kaze said, grabbing a cookie without a problem. "And he kind drew all over the blacktop with the kind that doesn't go boom. The pictures weren't very..."

"Middle school age appropriate," Daichi finished.

"Oh. Well that's..."

"Very Suigo-like."

"Yeah..."

"Now that we're done reminiscing about the good times," Suigo grumbled, "Sayuki, why the hell can't we mess with the cockroach?"

"... Cockroach?"

"Gaichu, the pest, the annoying one," Suigo said, waving his hand as if it were supposed to be obvious. Sayuki shrugged.

"I'll deal with it," she answered simply. "She's _mine_. You touch her, no more stealing my lunch."

"Hey! I gave you the dog plushie!" Suigo protested.

"That Karupin keeps ripping up," Ryoma muttered.

"That thing has candy and stuff in it! I spent my entire month's allowance on that, c'mon, you _owe_ me," Suigo whined.

"It has _WHAT_?"

"Which explains where she keeps getting candy." The group looked up to see Kuroki standing in the doorway.

"Cookie, cookie, on the cabinet," she muttered, standing on her tiptoes to snag a cookie, "Get Sayuki to break her habit."

"Too much Snow White for you," Daichi murmured. Kuroki rolled her eyes and bit into the cookie that Suigo and Sayuki stared at longingly, almost drooling.

"Eh, what habit?" Sayuki asked, never taking her eyes off the cookie as it slowly disappeared down Kuroki's throat.

"Your habit of being a goody-two shoes that always does what the very good and nice people from fairyland do," Kuroki answered. Sayuki smiled innocently at her.

"Not this time. Anyways..." Sayuki sighed. "We're here to talk about what Suigo's parents figured out about my eyes so far."

"As soon as Kaze stops trying to recreate Ryoma's alarm clock, we'd be good to go," Daichi muttered.

"Fine," Kaze said, placing the dismantled clock back on Ryoma's desk and reaching for another cookie. "Eyes. Let's go."

"So other than what we already know..." Sayuki frowned. "It's hard to explain. It seems that my eyes are reflective and clear... Um, like... albino animals have no color in their eyes, and their eyes are red because you see the blood behind. Kinda like that, but more like a mirror. And I apparently have a subconscious photographic memory of colors, so I take the color and..." She trailed off.

"And my parents haven't gotten that far?" Suigo finished for her. Sayuki nodded.

"So... Your eyes are 'mirrors' and you remember colors, so you pick a color and your eyes somehow change to that color?" Kuroki asked, looking skeptical. Sayuki shrugged helplessly.

"It's a mutation," she said. "I could've turned out albino or something. But instead I get kickass eyes that are from a sci-fi/fantasy story. Don't question the good things?"

"There is no such thing as a free lunch," Kaze said. "Greek saying."

"I've _read_ the Percy Jackson series, Kaze," Sayuki muttered. He shrugged.

"There's gotta be a setback to your eyes," Daichi said, frowning.

"Yeah, other than her getting temporary amnesia, fainting a bunch, and having an identity crisis for all her lifetime," Suigo replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "How much more do you want her to go through cause of those eyes?"

"Yeah, about that," Sayuki said nervously. "The amnesia and fainting? They said it gets worse with time. So if I keep using my eyes, I'm gonna either end up with no memory of _anything_ or in a coma."

"So... don't use them," Ryoma said simply.

"Problem? I'm always using them. My original eye color is _clear_. My eyes right now..." Sayuki stared at them. "I'm copying my parents. _Always_."

"... So basically we gotta figure out how to get you to get to your own eyes, _without_ having you on sugar 24/7, or you're screwed," Kuroki said, blinking.

"Yup."

"... Fuck."

* * *

"Sayuki, c'mon, the others already left," Suigo whined, bouncing on Sayuki's bed. Ryoma sat cross-legged on the floor, playing with Karupin. Sayuki was at her desk.

"I wanna spend time in my own room, okay?" she shot back. "I'll leave when I'm done with homework."

"Fine," Suigo muttered. Then he blinked. "Wait, _homework_?"

"You're doing homework?" Ryoma asked, staring at her. Sayuki sighed and waved a piece of paper with numbers scrawled on it.

"I didn't go to school today, remember? No time to do it beforehand," she said grumpily. "I hate doing homework."

"Welcome to our world..."

* * *

"Dammit, why does life suck?" Kuroki whined.

"What's wrong?" Yukina asked, pulling out her English binder.

"You _know_ what's wrong," Kuroki muttered, glaring at her friend. Yukina looked up at her innocently.

"I forgot. Remind me."

"... I hate you."

"You don't," Yukina answered simply. "Is it about the boyfriend thing? I could introduce you to one of my costume-making friends but..."

"They're probably all gay, no offense," Kuroki snorted. "That, or guys with very questionable hobbies."

"Just because they like fashion doesn't mean they're gay," Yukina sniffed. "And if that's the case, then I can't help you."

"Alright, class is starting now," their English teacher announced. "Shut up and sit down. Today we're going to be reading chapter 13, so get out your books. Kokoro, you start and finish the first page."

"I hate English... yup, life sucks."

* * *

"Six days left," Kuroki grumbled, pulling out a chair next to Tezuka. "Almost five." He glanced up at her from his homework.

"Until what?" he asked, shifting his homework to give her room. She scowled.

"My parents are coming back, and..." She sighed and changed topics. "It's been a while since we last came to the library."

"Hn." Tezuka turned a page. "What is going to happen when they return?"

"You don't let things drop, do you?" Kuroki muttered. "Stubborn."

"Persistent and dedicated," Tezuka corrected. "Answer the question." Kuroki grinned.

"If I can get you to talk, then maybe I'll just keep avoiding the question," she said smugly, pulling out her English binder.

"I talk. You simply automatically assume that I'm a silent person," Tezuka replied. "Jetzt, sprechen."

"No speak German," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "You didn't teach me that."

"Jetzt means now. Sprechen is speak. Jetzt, sprechen."

"Great. Now teach me how to say, 'Sorry, but no.'"

"Nein."

"'No'?" Kuroki snorted. "Well. Fine with me. Bastard Eis Wurfel..." She opened up her English workbook and stared at the page. "The hell is this?"

"Do you talk like that in front of your parents?" Tezuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like what?" Kuroki said absently, rummaging around her backpack for her English to Japanese dictionary.

"Cussing every other word."

"Of course not, what do you think?" Kuroki said. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Tezuka replied. "The directions on our English homework says to finish the sentence using the phrases provided in the word bank. And you still haven't told me what's happening when your parents return."

"Thanks, and you don't need to know." Kuroki placed the dictionary on the table and attempted to decipher her homework. "Since when did you become a nosy person?"

"Hn."

"Shut up. Just. Shut. Up."

* * *

"I really, really hate you two right now," Kuroki scowled, stabbing at her food. Her sisters grinned sheepishly at her.

"Ask the Ice kid," Akai suggested. Kuroki groaned and chomped down.

"_Why_ does everyone say that?" she complained. "Mom and Dad wouldn't even _like_ him! Mom hates ice cubes! I had to get my hate from somewhere, right? We don't even get along that well!"

"Actually, Dad used to be an emotionless bastard, from what Mom used to tell us," Aoiri answered thoughtfully. Kuroki raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt that. Dad?" she snorted. "_Dad? _The scatter brain?"

"Yup, exactly like the Ice kid," Akai grinned. "And then Mom and Dad had us and Mom says that his personality did a complete 1260."

"Well, that makes a lot of sense," Kuroki muttered. "Because _you_ guys are..."

"Awesome?" the two chimed together.

"Not quite, I was going more for 'insane'."

"Shut up and get yourself a boyfriend, dear."

* * *

"Jesus fucking Christ hell ass balls..." Kuroki rolled over, fell off her bed, and grabbed her phone, which was playing We'll Be Alright by Travie McCoy, her ring tone for Sayuki. "The hell does she want at..." Kuroki squinted at the time. "No fucking idea what that says."

_Hey Kuroki. It's 3 in the morning if you were wondering. I can't sleep at _all_._

Kuroki glared blearily at her cellphone screen, clumsily punching in the numbers. She reluctantly resigned herself to a sleepless morning, wishing she had a cup of coffee. She swore that Sayuki was part insomniac. Once a month, the girl would wake her up at ungodly hours of the night, or in this case, the morning. The problem had stopped years ago when Sayuki had left for America, but it seemed that it was making a return appearance. Probably from stress, the poor thing.

The poor thing that was waking her up at three in the fucking morning. Dammit.

_Hon, smch s i lov yo, 3 n thfee mornaing isg rly 222 mccuh. i'jmm ijncoherefdnt andshiz. saws eaesdir wneh u stillk likved witgnv ryhoj._

Kuroki debated whether or not to turn off her phone and just go back to sleep, but sighed and decided to humor her best friend. For the moment. Revenge was inevitable come their next face-to-face meeting.

The reply came in a few moments.

_That... was incredibly hard to decipher. Something about how you can't wake up at three in the morning, how you're incoherent and... something about saws and living and/or liking ryhoj... who I assume is Ryoma._

_Anyways... found a bf yet?_

Kuroki stared at the screen for a good five minutes before she figured out what Sayuki was saying.

_lack of sleep makes me dyslexic. i think i'm better n ow. i need cofffe tho._

_no and eis is being unusually nosy bout my business. but srsly, i need help getging one._

_im going back to sleep. try to rest k? i'll see you after skewl 2morrow, tell me wat else sui's parents found out_

Kuroki hit the send key and crawled back into bed, glaring at the ceiling.

"I have the most sadistic sisters and best friend in the _world_."

* * *

"School's finally over," Sakuno sighed. "Sayuki-chan didn't show up again..."

"You called?"

"Kyaa!" Sakuno leaped back in surprise. Sayuki grinned sheepishly at her.

"I decided to show up for tennis practice, at least," Sayuki explained. "I haven't gone in a while and I don't want to get rusty."

"I was heading to the girls'," Sakuno said, smiling. As they walked together towards the courts, Sakuno asked, "So are you coming back to school tomorrow?"

"Probably," Sayuki answered. "So many things to catch up on."

"You haven't missed that much," Sakuno giggled. "Knowing you, you'd finish it all in one day."

"Aw, no way, I'm not that amazing," Sayuki sighed. She looked around for a moment, then said, "I'll let you in on a secret. I don't actually finish all my homework in class. I stay up late at night to do it. I'm kind of an insomniac."

"Really? But you need your sleep!" Sakuno frowned.

"Don't worry. All those times that Ryoma's found me rolling around on my bed is cause I was sleeping a moment before," Sayuki grinned. "Turns out I'm also a really light sleeper. Insomnia is from my dad, but the light sleeping is from my mom. It's a bad mix, but I live."

"Have you always done your homework like that?" Sakuno asked.

"... Not... Not really," Sayuki answered hesitantly. "It started when I went to America." Sakuno opened her mouth to ask more, but shut it again when she saw the expression on Sayuki's face. She had seen that look when Sayuki had explained the true situation behind her eyes. Sad, confused, thinking about something she's thought too many times about...

She smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder, the only way she knew she could comfort Sayuki. It made her sad and a little hurt that she couldn't always help out her friend.

Sayuki looked up at her and smiled. If there was one thing that Sayuki would always be good at, it would be understanding other people.

"Don't tell anyone about me doing my homework at night, though." Sayuki grinned mischievously. "I wanna keep my secrets."

"It's a promise!"

* * *

"Hey Kachiro, Katsuo, don't you guys think that Echizen's become a little less arrogant now?" Horio looked at the two boys, who stared back at him.

"Yeah, he's changed a lot," Kachiro answered.

"It's probably because of Saiki-san," Katsuo added. "She's really nice, but I don't think that you could spend a lot of time with her and stay arrogant."

The door to the locker room opened, and who should walk in but Ryoma? The three meeped and turned the other way, pretending like they hadn't just been calling him arrogant and indirectly calling his girlfriend hard to deal with.

They finished up and left the locker room in silence.

"You're right, by the way," Ryoma said suddenly. "About it being hard to stay arrogant around Sayuki." The three exchanged glances as they entered the tennis courts.

"Momo-senpai, c'mon, quit messing around and gimme back my racket!"

"Eh, that voice... it's Saiki, right?" Horio said uncertainly. "She wasn't at school today though."

"Not senpai, Vice Captain, Vice Captain," Momo grinned. He held Sayuki's racket high above his head, and she kept jumping to try and reach it.

"_Vice Captain _Momo," Sayuki growled with exasperation, "_please_ give me back my racket. I _need_ to practice." She glanced behind her and brightened.

"Ryoma, get your idiot of a best friend to give me back my racket."

"Tough decision," Ryoma mock-sighed. "Do I watch and let you make an idiot of yourself, help you out because I'm _tall_, or just walk away laughing...?"

"_Ryoma, I have cookies_."

"Momo-senpai, give her the racket. Or I will take it from you."

"What's so bad about cookies?" Kachiro and Katsuo asked. Ryoma stared at them with a disturbed expression.

"You're lucky you don't know..."

"Saiki-san really has changed Ryoma-kun," Katsuo muttered.

"Yay, I got my racket back!"

* * *

_We are young, we run free ~Stay up late, we don't sleep~ Got our friends, got the night~ We'll be alrig-_

Kuroki flipped open her phone, ignoring the glares of the people around her who were trying to read/study/do homework.

"You should lower the volume on your phone," Tezuka commented. "You're disturbing the people in the library."

"They're disturbing me with their faces, so it's fair," Kuroki answered absently, scrolling through Sayuki's text

_Went to tennis practice, sorry forgot to tell you. It's over now. Where are you?_

"Hey Eis, what year did Hideyoshi die?"

_Library doing hw w/ eis_

Message sent.

"1598."

"Fif... teen... Ninety eight, okay thanks." She stretched her arms, cracking a few joints, then went back to work. "Alright... English essay on your hero? Pfft. Eis, who are you doing your essay on?" Tezuka opened his mouth to answer, but Kuroki stopped him.

"Hang on, I know what it's gonna be," she sighed. "Some tennis player, right? Ugh... Time to go author hunting again."

"'Author hunting'?" Tezuka asked as she stood up from the table. She waved a hand.

"I told you, I like reading, so it'd make sense for a hero of mine to be an author, right?" she grinned. "I haven't read any good books since Sayuki came back, since she's a very good distraction from boredom, but it's time to get crack-a-lackin' on the books again."

"You do that."

Kuroki snorted and walked away, muttering something about "damned ice cubes." She turned into another row of bookshelves and froze.

"Oh fucking hell ass balls, _you!"_ Kuroki hissed, eye twitching with disgust.

Gaichu Mayumi sniffed disdainfully.

"Such vulgar language," she said haughtily. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Of course not. My mother's dead," Kuroki deadpanned. Mayumi blinked.

"O-oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Your mother isn't dead, she's in Hong Kong," a voice from behind said. Mayumi gasped.

Kuroki glowered.

"Shut the hell up Eis, way to burst my bubble of fun," Kuroki grumbled, turning around. "And she's actually in England right now. Get your facts straight."

"Kuroki, I think your parents are in Israel or something, to be honest."

"The hell is with people and showing up all at once?" Kuroki hissed, whirling around to face Sayuki, who was standing in front of a shocked Mayumi. Apparently Sayuki had appeared in front of her without Mayumi noticing.

"And why would they be in Israel?" Kuroki huffed. Sayuki shrugged, holding up a piece of paper.

"I got a letter from them today, and it's written in Hebrew," she answered. "They speak Hebrew in Israel, right?"

"... Why is it in Hebrew?" the three asked in unison.

"Kuro's parents are really into the different languages and cultures and they wanted one of their daughters to learn a whole bunch of languages," Sayuki answered. "Akai-san didn't have a long enough attention span, Aoiri-san was too lazy, and Kuroki hates translating things, so they started writing letters to me in different languages."

"And you just _happen_ to know how to speak Hebrew," Kuroki said in monotone.

"Not really, I'm here for a Hebrew to Japanese dictionary," Sayuki shrugged. "I didn't find you at your normal table so I decided to come over here first. Ryoma's back at the table waiting for us."

"Uh... right..." Kuroki looked back at Mayumi. "Where was I? Oh yeah. It's amazing to see the Gaichu actually feel guilty instead of bitchy, clingy, obsessed-"

"Oh, shut up Kuroki, she's only human," Sayuki sighed. She grabbed a random book from a shelf and dragged her best friend away.

"They're very weird, Tezuka-sama," Mayumi commented. Tezuka glanced at her.

"Hn."

And then he walked away.

* * *

"Sayuki, what's the deal?" Kuroki grumbled, reluctantly letting herself get pulled along. "First the younger sister, now the older. What's with the hands-off-the-pests?"

"Kuroki, we've _been_ through this," Sayuki sighed. She let go of her friend, but continued walking. "Two years ago, Caroline incident, in America."

"All people have feelings and just because they're jerks doesn't mean that they can't feel sorry," Kuroki rolled her eyes, crossing her arms defensively as they arrived at the table. "I get it. But the bitch still deserved it."

"_You put spiders in her bed_."

"So? Spiders aren't that bad!" Kuroki protested.

"She had arachnophobia," Sayuki hissed. "She nearly died of fright! She had to go see a therapist for weeks!"

"She ran over your hamster with her dad's motorcycle!" Kuroki growled with annoyance. "Because she couldn't find his _chainsaw_." Sayuki groaned, dropped into a chair, and facepalmed.

"It was an accident! Kuroki, you're _way_ too overprotective," Sayuki grumbled. "Just like Suigo says."

"_Chainsaw_, Sayuki, _chainsaws and motorcycles_."

"And spiders." Kuroki and Sayuki turned to Ryoma, acknowledging him for the first time.

"So who got spiders in the bed?" he asked, smirking over the edge of the book he was reading.

"Caroline," Sayuki answered. "A... 'friend' in America."

"Friend, my foot!"

"Need I remind you yet again that you're in a library?" Tezuka asked with exapseration, taking his seat. Kuroki glared but shut up and sat down.

"So how's your search asking?" Sayuki asked.

"I hate it when people change the topic," Kuroki mumbled. She glanced towards Tezuka, willing him not to ask-

"Search?"

Dammit.

"Yeah, you know," Sayuki shrugged. She stared at him. He stared back.

"Wait... you _don't_ know?"

"You never told Captain Tezuka?" Ryoma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, now shut up puh-_leez_," Kuroki muttered, flipping through the book Sayuki had grabbed her. She didn't need to ask how Sayuki knew she wanted a book. She would just accept that her best friend was a kickass mind reader and be done with it.

"No way," Sayuki grinned. "Tezuka-senpai, did ya know that Kuroki's looking for a boyfriend right now?"

Tezuka blinked.

"Could you not phrase it like that?" Kuroki growled. "Okay, Eis, basically what happened is that my parents called to tell me and my sisters that they're coming back in a week, my sisters screamed some nonsense about how I have a boyfriend, and since I couldn't explain that they were lying, I have to find a pretend boyfriend so that my parents don't go ballistic about _me_ lying about my supposed boyfriend."

"You could-" Tezuka began.

"I can't just explain it to them when they come back because they'll be too busy showering me, Sayuki, and my sisters with gifts to listen," Kuroki cut in. "I've tried calling them again but they're always talking so much that I can't break in, and if I write to them now they won't get it in time." She turned to Tezuka.

"I've thought about every possibility out of this situation other than finding myself a pretend boyfriend, and none of them work," she told him. "So don't bother."

"Kuroki, couldn't you ask Tezuka-senpai then?" Sayuki asked innocently. "I mean, everybody else you asked can't do it."

"Psh, yeah right," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "Like Eis Wurfel would ever-"

"Is there really no one else to do it?"

The three stared at Tezuka.

".. Does that mean...?"

He stared back.

"Yes, I will do it."

* * *

_I don't have anything witty to say here except for OMG OMG OMG TEZUKA SAID YES WOO._

_Also, no Sayuki does not know every language there is. She just knows bits and pieces (from what she remembers from looking up in dictionaries to understand Kuroki's parents' letters) of a couple of languages. But the only two she's fluent in are English and Japanese._

_Don't worry too much about Caroline. Her story will be explained more later. :3 Can anyone say... FLASHBACKS!_

_Christmas Special has been started (about time, I know right?) and so has the Valentine's Special. Neither will be posted until we reach the point where there will no longer be spoilers in them. That, and I actually have to finish them._

_Actually, which do you guys prefer? The specials or regular updates? Pick one and I'll try to focus more on the one that the majority wants. That way I can update to your satisfaction. :3  
_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)_

...*pokes Kai with update stick* ;] Payback~

~Ryuu


	6. We Interrupt This Program For Cookies

_Just a random drabble/fluffish four page short that doesn't fit into the actual story. I felt bad for not updating all this time... and I needed to kill some Writer's Block. :3_

_This took me about an hour and I didn't go through to edit, so sorry about any errors you might see.  
_

_And I know I said I'd concentrate on the chapters more than the specials... but this doesn't really count as either. xD Just so you know, I'm just starting chapter 7. Chapter 5 will be up soon!_

_Enjoy this randomness!_

_-Kai_

This just makes u wanna go puke up zombie puppies. It's that cute.

~Ryuu

P.S. Yes, I have weird metaphors.

* * *

**Just a Little Something To Kill Writer's Block**

_Time Frame: Whenever_

Sayuki poked Ryoma repeatedly, stubbornly refusing to stop until she got a reaction. With a sigh, he cracked open a eye.

"Sayuki, I'm tired... what is it?" He didn't move from his position on the couch, but Sayuki bounced up and grinned anyways.

"Nah, just wondering if you wanted to help me bake cookies."

"Baking cookies...?" Ryoma rolled off the couch, landing in a crouched position. He stifled a yawn and raised an eyebrow at her. "What's the occasion?"

"I want cookies?" She shrugged. "I won't eat all of them, promise."

"Sure, whatever," he answered, dragging his feet over to the kitchen. "I have no idea how to bake cookies though..."

"Um... Me neither," Sayuki admitted sheepishly. "I mean, I can cook, but I've never tried baking..."

"Should we call someone who actually knows how to bake then?" Ryoma pointed out the hall at the phone, already taking a step towards it.

"Kuroki would get too frustrated, her sisters are definitely out of the equation, and I don't know anyone else who could possibly know how to bake," she told him. "Besides, it shouldn't be that hard... right?"

"Are you sure you don't want a recipe book?" Ryoma stepped back into the kitchen, looking mildly skeptical. "My dad won't care if you make a mess of the kitchen, but my mom..."

"It's fine, we can clean it all up later," Sayuki answered, waving absently at him as she searched through the cupboards for any materials they might need. "And they're out doing whatever anyways. They won't be back until, like, ten."

"Mm." Ryoma opened the oven and peeked inside. "Just don't blow anything up."

"Heh, don't get in my way," Sayuki smirked, pointing a wooden spoon at him. She handed him a bowl of... mushed up something and stabbed the spoon into the mess. "Stir this. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm just taking guesses here."

"Cookie dough..." Ryoma dragged the spoon out and waved it tauntingly in front of Sayuki's face. "You sure you don't wanna taste test?"

"Jerk," Sayuki grinned, chomping down on the spoon. "Now go wash it. I have to find the pan... thingy."

"Try the cupboard up there." He nodded up at the cupboards and turned on the faucet, rubbing at the spoon. Sayuki scowled, turning to him.

"You _know_ I'm not tall enough to reach that," she grumbled. He shrugged, tossing her the spoon and sliding the bowl over to her.

"You could just get a stool," he answered, reaching for the cupboard anyways. "Nope, they're not in there."

"Ah... I remember now," Sayuki mumbled, setting the bowl down on the counter. "The one we have is broken. Your mom was planning to get it next week..."

"So now what?" Ryoma stifled another yawn, blinking the tears out of his eyes. "We could call someone and ask if we can borrow theirs."

"Go call Kuroki," Sayuki agreed, nodding over to the phone. "She'll probably have one. I'll finish up everything else."

* * *

"So why are they here?" Sayuki and Ryoma blinked at Kuroki, her sisters on either side of her. Absently, Sayuki continued stirring the bowl of cookie dough.

"I don't trust my sisters to stay at home without managing to break something or set something on fire," Kuroki sighed, shouldering her way into the house. "So they had to tag along. Just make them play some video games or something. They won't bother us."

"I'll go get my Nintendo DS then," Sayuki grinned, pushing the bowl at Kuroki and dashing upstairs. Akai and Aoiri whooped and followed the younger girl.

"Cookies?" Kuroki asked, raising an eyebrow. Ryoma shrugged and led her into the kitchen. "Do you even know how to make cookies?"

"Nah," he answered, grabbing the pan from Kuroki. "Do you?"

"Not at all. So how are you planning on doing this?" She glanced around the kitchen, taking in the mess scattered around the counters. "Since I'm guessing Sayuki has no idea how to make cookies either."

"She's guessing," Ryoma shrugged. "It's surprising for me, since she likes cookies so much. I figured that she'd at least know how to make them."

"Heh, true," Kuroki smirked. "So... No chocolate chips in them?"

"Nah." Sayuki skipped into the kitchen, grabbing the bowl of cookie dough. "Since these probably won't turn out well, I just figured we'd pour this on the pan and stick it in the oven."

"If it explodes..." Kuroki warned. Sayuki stuck her tongue out at her best friend and went on to pour the batter onto the pan. Karupin and Kakura entered the room, smelling the sweet batch, and knocked into Sayuki's legs.

"Eep!" The mix went flying everywhere, and somehow the three ended up in a pile on the floor, Kakura on the counter and sniffing at the pan, while Karupin leaped onto a stool, scrabbling at the spoon. They all blinked and burst out laughing.

"Sayuki, get off of me." Ryoma chuckled despite his efforts to sound annoyed.

"Tell Kuroki to get off then," Sayuki retorted, a delighted grin on her face.

"And someone get Kakura off the counter," Kuroki smirked, rolling off Sayuki and picking Kakura up with her hands. "Great, now we all need a shower."

"Nuh uh." Sayuki licked her lips, catching a bit of the dough. "It tastes good."

"Probably not healthy though." Ryoma ran a hand through his hair and made a face when he discovered his hand suddenly covered in dough. "We definitely need a shower."

"And a new batch of cookie dough," Kuroki piped up, setting the weasel on the floor and shooing Karupin away from the spoon.

"I think we're out of stuff," Sayuki said sheepishly, opening the fridge. "And you probably didn't bring any..."

"Ryo-ryo, you go take a shower first," Kuroki ordered. Ryoma lazily shook the dough off his hand, exiting the kitchen.

"So who usually has stuff like this...?"

* * *

"Yo, Kaze, sorry for the short notice," Sayuki grinned. Kaze blinked and closed the door. He turned to walk away when the door slammed open again, with Kuroki appearing to drag the boy in.

"We're covered in cookie dough cause our pets were being idiots," she grumbled, letting go of Kaze's collar when they reached the kitchen. "We called you to get all this stuff because we're out of cookie... stuff, and Sayuki really wants to make cookies right now."

"Okay then. Was Echizen caught up in the mess, too?" Kaze heaved the plastic bag of supplies onto the kitchen counter, which was now much cleaner.

"Sayuki, your turn to shower," Ryoma announced, throwing a towel over his shoulder. He blinked when he saw Kaze in the kitchen.

"Ah, hey."

"Uh... huh."

"Gee, hate to break into your riveting conversation, ice cubes, but _I'm_ off to get this mess off of me," Kuroki broke in, rolling her eyes. She patted Ryoma's wet head, making him scowl, and ruffled Sayuki's hair affectionately. "See you three in a few. Try not to mess anything else up while I'm gone."

"No chocolate?" Kaze asked when Kuroki left. Ryoma and Sayuki shook their heads. Kaze frowned, going through the bag.

"What's up, Kaze?" Sayuki peeked over his shoulder to try to find whatever he was looking for.

"I really wanted chocolate chip cookies... But there's no chocolate."

Sayuki and Ryoma exchanged glances.

"In that case..."

* * *

"Why are we making cookies?" Daichi asked, tilting his head to the side curiously, dropping the bag of chocolate chips on the counter. Ryoma shook his head, shrugging. Kaze stared at the bag of chocolate, not showing any indication that he had heard Daichi's question.

"Because I felt like it," came Sayuki's simple answer.

"Sayuki, go sho- Why the hell is Dai here?" Kuroki poked her head around the corner and stumbled into the kitchen. Ryoma tugged on her dripping hair, looking away innocently when Kuroki turned around to glare at him.

"Ah... They called me because Kaze wanted chocolate. Or something." Daichi scratched the back of his head. "I'm not too sure actually."

"I'm off to get this," Sayuki ruffled her hair and ended up with a glob of semi-dried dough in her hand, "off of me. You guys have fun and don't break anything." She grinned and flashed them an encouraging thumbs up before skipping away.

"You know, if Suigo finds out that we're having a cookie party without him, he's gonna be pissed," Kaze remarked. The other three blinked and groaned.

"Do we _have_ to invite him?" Kuroki grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "He'll break something. Or set the kitchen on fire. Or skin Karupin. I'm sure of it."

"Actually..." Daichi seemed thoughtful. "I think he knows how to make cookies."

Ryoma and Kuroki stared disbelievingly at him.

"No way. Suigo? Can _bake?_" Kuroki stayed silent for all of three seconds before bursting out into laughter, banging her fist on the counter.

"Why don't we invite him and find out?" Kaze drawled, ripping open the bag of chocolate chips and popping one in his mouth. "I'm sure he'd love to prove you wrong."

"Five bucks that even if he _can_ bake, he'll still break something."

"Ten that he'll be a mature kid for once."

"Deal."

* * *

"Aa-nd TADA!" Suigo burst out of the kitchen holding a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies. He struck a pose and the plate slid off his fingers onto the table with a small clatter. "Your cookies have been made, free of charge! Daichi, I want five of those ten bucks you bet on me."

"Yeah, yeah," his friend smiled good-naturedly. Kuroki gaped at Suigo, her eye twitching.

"No way, you didn't break ANYTHING!" she yelped, standing up from the couch. "I don't believe it!" She ran into the kitchen. Sayuki winced when she heard a huge crash come from Kuroki's general direction and turned back to the others with a grimace.

"In any case... Good job on making the cookies before I got out of the shower," she commented blandly. "Even though I really wanted to just make the cookies."

"Sorry, I'll teach you next time," Suigo grinned, patting her on the shoulder. He beamed at Ryoma, ignoring the glare Ryoma was sending him. "You too, Ryo-respect."

"Just eat your cookies," Daichi and Kaze sighed in unison. Daichi stuffed a cookie into Suigo's mouth while Kaze slid Suigo's hand off of Sayuki's shoulder. They both half-smiled at Ryoma, whose lips curved upwards in response.

"Suigo, what did you break anyways?" Daichi whispered, eyes darting towards the kitchen where Kuroki was still thrashing around, looking for something that Suigo had broken. Suigo grinned sheepishly and held up pieces of a plate.

"Sorry, it broke the first time I practiced that slide-the-plate-off-hand move." He tossed the broken pieces into the trash can. "I'll pay you back."

"Already got payment in cookies," Sayuki answered, mouth almost full.

"COOKIES!"

_SMASH_

"Ow..."

"Akai-san, Aoiri-san..." Ryoma blinked. He glanced at the choking and sputtering Sayuki and pounded her on the back. With difficulty, she managed to swallow, taking deep breaths.

Daichi and Suigo just stared on in shock. Kaze munched on a cookie, wearing his usual expressionless face.

"Did you _have_ to attack the table?" Sayuki huffed indignantly. "Did you break anything?"

"No, my bones are fi-"

"I meant the _table_," she grumbled, shooing the older women off. "Good, the cookies are still okay."

"Cookie party?" Akai grinned hopefully. Everyone else exchanged exasperated looks.

"Fine..."

"WHOO! I'm going to call the Ice Kid and the Cat Boy and-"

A wooden spoon landed accurately on Akai's head and she fell over, unconscious. Suigo crouched down and poked her before declaring her dead.

"No inviting everyone over," Kuroki snarled. She was panting and out of breath, having stormed over so quickly from the kitchen that she seemed to have teleported.

"Too late~" Aoiri sing songed, dropping the phone back into the receiver. "Everybody that can come is already on their way!"

"Hah..."

"Welp, I'm off to make more cookies!"

"Hold ON! What the hell did you break!"

"I didn't break anything! Can't you believe me for once?"

"No way!"

"SHUT UP!"

"... I still think he broke something..."

_to be continued... in part 2 :D_

* * *

_I'm saving part two for whenever I need to kill Writer's Block again. xD_

_So did you like it? I liked doing this. It's a nice, refreshing break from the actual story without completely switching mind frames. Also, I can just do whatever I want _and_ it gets rid of Writer's Block. Whoo._

_Don't worry, regular chapters and specials are still coming up. Mostly regular chapters since I'm kind of behind on specials... Well, most people asked for chapters? xD_

_Right. Suigo can bake. Why? Will be in part two!_

_... Maybe._

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	7. Chapter 5

_You guyyys, I hated writing this so chapter so much you don't even _KNOW_._

_Not to say that it's a bad chapter... I skimmed through it and it seemed pretty much like all the other chapters. But I will explain at the bottom._

_Um, also... I didn't actually read through this. So sorry for any typos you might see.  
_

_For now, enjoy!  
_

_-Kai_

Is it okay to jump off a cliff now? School work is being a pain in the...buttocks.

~Ryuu

_(PS: I would've uploaded this chapter YESTERDAY [EDIT: TWO DAYS AGO DANGIT] [Edit 2: .. make that three], but fanfiction was being a butt. A huge fat smelly butt. [EDIT: THAT FARTS INVERTED RAINBOWS.] [Edit 2: and zombie puppies and rotted crocodile babies])_

_(PSS: This is the last edit I swear. I found a profile that had a link to a thread that can bypass the fanfiction Error 2 thing, so I can finally upload this chapter! In case you're having any problems, the profile with the link is **Petenshi Sanctuary**. So.. yeah. Here's to ending this chain of EDITS! :D)  
_

* * *

"... This is _not_ going to work, is it?"

"I told you guys so, but noooo, you just _had_ to set me up with the emotionless ice cube," Kuroki sniffed, rolling her eyes.

Akai groaned, Aoiri sighed. Tezuka did his best impression of a brick wall.

"It's been three days since we started this fake couple thing," Aoiri grumbled, "and you two have argued, gotten into physical fights," here she glared at Kuroki, who looks pointedly away from the bruise on Tezuka's arm, "shunned each other, tried to make up, and gotten into another argument."

"And the first argument was about... pickles." Akai stared at them. "_How?_ How do you even GET into a fight about _pickles!"_

"Even Akai can't believe it!" Aoiri exclaimed. "Honestly, _how_?"

"Well-" Kuroki began.

"Never mind, I don't want to hear it," Aoiri groaned. "But you two... Mom and Dad are going to be back in two days. How do you expect to put up a convincing act if you can't even last an hour in the same room together?"

"I tried!" Kuroki protested.

"Tried as in calling him a douche bag for using the word 'hn', yeah," Aoiri snorted.

"Well at least Kuro tried at the beginning," Akai added. "The Ice kid didn't even make a attempt!"

"I will _try_ if you stop calling me by Ice," Tezuka answered dryly. "At least for the duration of your parents' stay."

"Fine, but we might slip a few times," Kuroki grumbled.

"I don't believe the Ic... Tezuka kid can actually act," Aoiri commented. "Even if you say he did well during the last Cinderella rehearsal. I just can't see him acting intimate with another... At least, not in front of his friends."

"He offered when he knew what was going to happen, so we'll just have to go with it," Kuroki muttered.

"One hour."

Kuroki and Tezuka stared at Akai.

"One hour till what?" Kuroki asked.

"One hour is the time limit for you two to get along," she replied. "No fights, no shunning, not even a disagreement."

"What's the punishment?" Kuroki asked warily, well aware of how her sisters worked.

"That's for us to know and for you two to hopefully not find out."

"... Now I'm scared..."

A wicked grin spread over her sisters' faces.

"You'll thank us in the end either way."

* * *

"So they ended up ditching us at the library, huh," Kuroki sighed, staring at the library in front of them. She glanced at Tezuka beside her. "Gonna head in?"

"They didn't give us much of a choice in the matter, did they?" Tezuka answered. Kuroki grunted in agreement and the two walked in.

"I swear, if I see the Gaichu in here again, I won't be responsible for any bloodstains I might get on the books," Kuroki mumbled.

"What did she do to you this time?" Tezuka drawled, pulling out a book that seemed interesting.

"Oh it's not what she _did_," Kuroki answered, tilting her head to read the cover of the book in his hands. "It's what she'll probably do."

"Nn... You mean when she sees us together?" Tezuka answered, turning a page. Kuroki snorted at the way he _didn't_ emphasize the word "together." They were technically a (fake) couple, "together" was supposed to mean something special.

"Pretty much," she answered. She'd let it slide time and trust that he'd be a better actor when her parents were here. "That, and I'm still pissed with Sayuki telling me to keep my hands off of the younger Gaichu."

"How have you lasted these past few days?" Tezuka asked in a bored tone, snapping the book shut. Knowing Kuroki, she'd probably hurt little children or something to cope. He handed the book to her, seeing the interested shine in her eyes. He'd thought it was boring but...

"Visualization," she answered, turning the book over to see the back cover. "Imagining the many, many different ways I could torture the girl. It got kind of old though. My ideas are running dry and I'm itching to actually try them on someone."

"No doubt you could go play someone in tennis and relieve some stress that way," Tezuka answered quietly. Kuroki's Shinigami mode when she played tennis was frightening, and he didn't approve of it at all. Using tennis to hurt others, even if it was (barely) justified was...

Kuroki glanced up at him. She had heard the disapproving tone of his voice and she scowled reflexively. She knew that going Shinigami and inflicting pain on others wasn't cool. It's not like she could _help_ it.

Absently, she wondered if she should've listened to Sayuki when she had sarcastically told Kuroki to go sign up for anger management lessons.

"Don't get on my case, I try not to go Shinigami," Kuroki muttered, placing the book back on the shelf. She didn't feel like reading anymore, and besides, the plot line was cliche.

"But honestly," she sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets, "I don't get why Sayuki told us to leave the Gaichu alone. It's hardly like two weeks of suspension is a fair punishment for what the bitch did to her."

"Then what would be fair punishment?" Tezuka asked. They walked down another aisle of shelves, where Kuroki stopped and pulled out a book.

"Not what I've been imagining," Kuroki admitted. "No matter what Gaichu did to Sayuki, it would be overkill for her to go through the torture I've imagined." Changing the topic, Kuroki held up the book in her hands so that he could read it.

"You've ever read any of Kobo Abe's stuff?" Kuroki asked. Tezuka shook his head.

"He's pretty good," Kuroki said, a twisted smile on her face. Tezuka absently noted that it was as close to a genuine smile he's seen on her when she wasn't with Sayuki. He wondered if she had been smirking so much that she almost forgot how to smile.

"... The Face of Another when I was looking for my 'hero' to write about in English." Kuroki glanced up at him. "Hello? Are you in there?" Tezuka blinked.

"Ah... yes." He nodded at the book. "The Ruined Map... does it seem good?"

"Kinda," she answered with a shrug. Kuroki paused. "The last time we were in this section, didn't the Gaichu show up?"

"Yes," Tezuka answered. Kuroki scowled and dragged him out to the study area.

"Don't want a repeat of that happening," she muttered, dropping down into a chair. Tezuka silently pulled up a chair next to her.

"You know, I wonder how my sisters are watching us," Kuroki said thoughtfully.

"I don't want to know," Tezuka answered. Kuroki grinned.

"I don't want to know what their punishment is," she answered. She glanced at the clock on the wall. "About 45 more minutes to go..." She groaned and leaned back in her chair, opening the book to the first page.

"Go get a book or do homework or something," Kuroki muttered, waving a hand at Tezuka. "I don't think I can get through 45 minutes of talking with you without arguing about something really stupid."

"Hn." Tezuka got up to leave before he realized what he had just said.

"Deep breaths, Kuroki... deep breaths... No matter how much you want to smack the guy senseless, you must persevere... Ignore..."

Tezuka smirked.

* * *

"Ryoma, how do you think those two are doing?" Sayuki grinned.

"They should either be attempting to kill each other or barely tolerating each other," Ryoma answered. The two were wandering aimlessly through the city, enjoying the time they spent together.

"Probably," Sayuki agreed. She froze and turned ninety degrees, staring at the shop with sparkling eyes.

"What..." Ryoma began. Then he groaned. "Sayuki, _no_."

"Please?" she begged, turning her giant, watery eyes on him. "_Please_?"

"No," he said firmly.

"It's just ice cream!" she whined as Ryoma dragged her away. "I didn't even want that much!"

"We're not getting you hyper on purpose this time," he answered. "We don't want you fainting or getting amnesia again."

"Fine," Sayuki conceded, pouting. "Can we go to the field then?" Ryoma nodded. After a few minutes walk, they reached their haven. Sayuki and Ryoma stared at it, then exchanged confused glances.

"Do I want to know?" Ryoma asked. Sayuki shrugged.

"Akai-san, Aoiri-san, what are you guys doing down there with all that... electronic stuff?" Sayuki called. The twin sisters glanced up at them and grinned, beckoning the two to come closer.

"We're spying on Kuro and the Ice kid," Akai whispered, as if afraid that the Kuroki and Tezuka on the laptop's screen could hear them.

"You... I don't even know where to begin," Sayuki said, twitching.

"How did you even bug all of the library?" Ryoma asked. "The building is huge!"

"We can't give away all of our secrets," Aoiri answered, shrugging. She glanced at the screen. "Oh, look who decided to show up."

* * *

"Gaichu. Great. I _really_ needed to see you right now," Kuroki muttered sarcastically. Mayumi Gaichu spared her a disdainful glare before turning to Tezuka.

"Tezuka-sama," she purred, tugging at his arm. "Why are you with this woman? You don't like her anyways..."

"It's none of your business," he answered coolly, pulling his arm away. Mayumi pouted and clung to his arm stubbornly.

Kuroki drummed her fingers on the table impatiently, attempting to concentrate on her book. _What was the word our English teacher always uses? "Barnacle"? Mm... she needs to stop "barancle"ing._ She glanced up from her book and tapped Tezuka's leg with her foot.

Tezuka glanced at Kuroki. _Make her go away_. Her eyes were blazing with annoyance. He suppressed a sigh and pushed the clingy fangirl off of him.

"Please leave," he said coldly, turning a half-powered glare at Mayumi. The girl seemed immune to glares and continued to reattach herself onto his arm, babbling about... their future marriage?

Kuroki's facial twitch confirmed that, yes, Mayumi really was talking about how she was going to marry Tezuka. Kuroki's slight shake of her head indicated that fangirls were immune to glares and were quite possibly even more attracted to you the more you glared at them. She shrugged, translating to _I have no idea why the hell that happens. They're still conducting studies on the fangirl species._

He gave her an answering sarcastic look: _You're helpful_. She smirked.

_So now we work on telepathic levels? Cool. I'll help you out_, Kuroki grinned, closing her book and setting it down.

"- I think our wedding should be white, what about y- eh?" Mayumi turned around, feeling a tap on her shoulder. Kuroki smiled amiably back at her.

"Gaichu, please get your hands off of him," she smiled, placing her hands on Mayumi's. The Gaichu winced as she felt sharp nails dig into her fingers.

"Why?" she snapped, biting back the urge to yelp from the pain. Any more and she was sure the Weasel Girl would draw blood.

"Because you are annoying me," Tezuka and Kuroki answered in unison. "So leave him (us) alone."

The Gaichu glared at them, which was hardly effective considering they could convey more hate with both eyes closed, and withdrew with a toss of her head. Kuroki flexed her fingers with a sigh as the girl stalked off.

"Thank you," Tezuka sighed, rubbing his arm. "She's become more persistent lately."

"You think fangirls have a sixth sense?" Kuroki mused, returning to her seat. "Like, become more possessive at the feeling that someone might be going out with their target?"

"You make me sound like a piece of meat," Tezuka muttered. Kuroki chuckled.

"That's all you are, to them anyways."

* * *

"So now they can read each others' minds or something?" Ryoma asked, looking away from the screen. Sayuki shrugged, while Akai and Aoiri remained too immersed in the scene in front of them to answer.

"I think that's gonna be the most interesting thing to happen in this hour," Sayuki sighed, turning to the small forest. "I really, really wanted that ice cream..."

"Here ya go," Akai said absently, tossing Sayuki a tub of coffee ice cream. Ryoma and Sayuki blinked.

"How... Never mind, I don't want to know," Ryoma sighed, sitting down. "Not too much, Sayuki."

"Waeva," Sayuki answered, mouth already full and frozen with ice cream. "You can deal if I get hyper..." She paused, her eyes staring at empty space.

"Sayuki...?" Ryoma said uncertainly.

"Ah, my cell," she murmured, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Suigo? .. Yeah, alright. Tell them I'll be there in a few. Thanks..."

"Another check up?" Ryoma asked, tilting his head to the side. Sayuki nodded and tossed him the ice cream.

"See you later, Ryoma," she smiled, pecking him on the forehead. He mussed her hair in turn and she left. He sighed as he watched her leave.

"So boring without her..." He turned his eyes up towards the sky.

"I wonder if I should go play tennis with Momo-senpai..."

* * *

"Nadal."

"Federer."

"C'mon, Nadal's cooler."

"Federer."

"Nadaaaaall."

"Federer."

"... Fuck you. Nadal."

"Federer."

"_Nadal_."

* * *

Akai stared at the screen, then at her sister.

"How did they even start talking about tennis anyways?" she asked, blinking.

"I have no idea," Aoiri sighed. "Well... At least we get to put your plan in action. Do they even realize that they're arguing?"

"I don't think so- oh wait. Yup. Kuroki just started swearing and the Ice kid is blinking a whole lot. Ooh, now he's face palming. Priceless! Screeeeen capture~"

"What a pity, they only had five more minutes to go," Aoiri sighed. "Well, it's more fun this way."

"Well then," Akai grinned. "Time to go set up."

* * *

"And what the hell is _that_?" Kuroki hissed pointing at the pile of metal in her sisters' hands.

"What does it look like?" Akai answered, tilting her head to the side. She held it up so that it was more clear. "Handcuffs."

"... Is it a bad thing that the only thing I can think of right now is, 'Oh my God they've been reading too much Death Note again,'?" Kuroki muttered.

"Probably," Tezuka answered, eying the handcuffs warily. "And what are you going to do with those?"

"Isn't it _obvious?_" Aoiri sighed, fingering the exceptionally long chain connecting the cuffs. "We are going to handcuff you guys together until you learn to get along."

"But what if we need to go to the bathroom?" Kuroki demanded. "Privacy! And school!"

"I'm entrusting the keys to the Kitty Boy in case something happens," Aoiri said patiently. "And I'm sure you'll figure something out for school."

"Screw it," Kuroki growled. "Kakura!" The weasel leaped from nowhere and landed gracefully on her shoulder.

"Where does that weasel always come from?" Tezuka muttered. Kuroki shrugged.

"I let her do her own thing but she always comes when I ask," she answered. "Anyways, Kaku, go get the cuffs for me please." The weasel chattered. Kuroki groaned.

"_Fine_, you can have cookies later," she grumbled. "Just go get them." Kakura squeaked an affirmative and tackled the twins.

After a brief struggle, Kakura finally retreated, limping on a foot.

"Sorry Kaku-chan, but we can't let you win this one," Akai grinned apologetically. Kakura whimpered and turned to cower under the table.

The twins turned to the fake couple with an evil grin.

"Ice, either they kill us, I kill you, or I kill myself. Either way, we're all screwed."

* * *

"Catch."

Sayuki turned around, raised a hand up to block the flying object from hitting her face. Her fingers curled around it reflexively, and she blinked with surprise as she realized that Suigo had just tossed her a fruit smoothie bottle.

"Thanks...?" she said hesitantly, shaking the bottle. He stood in her temporary room's doorway, arms crossed with an uncharacteristic scowl on his face that was scarily reminiscent of Ryoma.

"What did my parents do this time?" His eyes searched hers. She frowned. Suigo was never this serious. _Never_.

"You make it sound like they're bad guys," she sighed, twisting the cap off the bottle. "They didn't do much. Just some experimenting..." She glanced warily at him. "Why?"

"I'm trying to look out for you in place of Ryo-respect," Suigo answered, attempting to furrow his brow. "How do you think of my impression of him?" Sayuki laughed.

"He's not that frowny, you're closer to Tezuka-senpai like that." She took a sip from the bottle and nearly did a spit-take, barely managing to choke it down. Coughing, she hissed, "The hell is this!"

"Home made fruit juice?" Suigo smirked. "I was going for Inui-senpai's juice, but I figured it'd taste better with fruits. I know you prefer them over vegetables."

"Yes, you see, that smirk is more like Ryoma," Sayuki choked, pointing at him with her free hand as she wiped her chin with the other. "And yeah, it tastes pretty darn close to the hell water. My eyesight is going fuzzy..."

"Are you sure that's not just the checkup?" The worry in Suigo's voice this time was real. Sayuki mumbled incoherently in response, absently recapping the bottle.

"Hey, Sayuki...?"

_Thump_.

* * *

"Akai, Aoiri, I can't cook with one hand. And he can't go home if he's chained to me."

"Psh, don't try to get out of this," Aoiri said, waving a fork at her sister. "We're ordering pizza. We told his mom that the Ice kid is at a training camp."

"But then he'll know where we live! You guys hate that!"

"Oh no he won't," Akai grinned.

"What-" Tezuka began.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Tezuka groaned, opened his eyes blearily to see Kuroki sitting cross legged, leaning over him with a smirk on her face.

"Unn... Where am I?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows. He squinted. Everything was blurry... Then he realized he didn't have his glasses on.

"Here." He turned to Kuroki and took his glasses gratefully.

"Well then, now that Sleeping Beauty is awake..." Kuroki muttered, scratching the back of her head. The chains jingled as she did so, and Tezuka remembered what had happened before he had blacked out.

"Am I in your house?" he asked, looking around. He spotted Kakura curled up on a dresser, watching them with slight interest.

"More specifically, you're in my room, in my bed," Kuroki answered with a shrug. "And I _would_ be over at my desk reading, but..." She held up her left hand to show the chains. "So I'm over here, sitting on my bed, reading." She leaned back against the wall and opened her book.

"Not much of a difference," Tezuka said, wincing as the back of his throbbed with pain. "... What did they do?"

"Akai knocked you out with a baseball bat," Kuroki answered flatly, turning a page. "Don't ask me where she got a bat, because I honestly have no idea."

"Why are you so against people knowing where you live?" Tezuka flinched as Kakura took a flying leap and landed in his lap.

"They like the mystery of it or something." She sighed, snapping the book shut. "Where do you wanna sleep? We have the living room couch... or the floor."

"I'll sleep on the floor, you should stay on your bed," Tezuka answered, already sliding off the bed despite Kakura's protests. The weasel squeaked and leaped onto Kuroki's shoulder, who sat on her bed, watching dispassionately, until she got dragged off and fell onto the floor.

"Ugh... Ow." She crawled off of Tezuka and sat on the edge of the bed, apologizing to the crushed and suffocating Kakura. "I guess the chain is shorter than we thought..." Tezuka's only reply was a grunt, his head still spinning with pain.

"A-ah, so now what to do?" she murmured to herself. She poked Tezuka's arm. "Hey. _Hey_. I know you're awake."

Tezuka turned to her and gave her a _Look_. The _Look_ that said, '_Shut up my head hurts I don't want to talk.'_

"Fine, be that way," Kuroki grumbled, poking his forehead. "Gotta use that brain of yours, though. How're we gonna slee-... what are you doing?" Tezuka had grabbed her hand and pressed it against his forehead with a sigh of relief.

"Your hands are cold," he murmured. He opened his eyes and half smirked at her. "Eis hände. And you say _I'm_ the ice cube."

"Sh-shut up, I'm not your ice pack," Kuroki grumbled, snatching her hand away. "My hands are always cold like that." She tilted her head to the side curiously. "How hard did she hit your head anyways? You're kind of smiling and it's creeping me out."

"Hn." Kuroki twitched and chucked her pillow at him. It hit him square in the face, making his glasses crooked. Calmly ignoring Kuroki's laughter, Tezuka fixed his glasses.

Then suddenly chucked the pillow at her.

Kuroki's giggles turned into growls as she flung the pillow at him. He dodged to the side this time, and the pillow ended up knocking Kakura, who had just entered the room, back into the hallway.

The two humans blinked and stared as the weasel bounced, squealing and sounding somewhat like a squeaky toy.

"... Ya know, I might end up getting arrested for animal abuse if this keeps up," Kuroki said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head.

"You already use your pet like a slave," Tezuka answered nonchalantly, watching as the weasel, huffing squeakily, marched back into the room armed with the pillow and an ice pack. "I suppose it's nice to have a companion, though."

"I can't really imagine you having a pet," Kuroki replied thoughtfully, letting Kakura crawl into her lap. The weasel collapsed, exhausted, content and purring as Kuroki petted her. Kuroki handed Tezuka the ice pack and positioned the pillow behind her.

"... Doberman, maybe?" she added.

"My mother is allergic to dogs," Tezuka answered, shaking his head. He pressed the ice pack to his injury and turned so that his back was to the bed. He turned his head upwards, letting the ice pack rest between the back of his head and the bed.

"Ugh, it's gonna melt on my bed like that, you know," Kuroki complained.

"Hn... Only for a bit."

"Whatever," she sighed. She turned her head to the side lazily and noticed her book, lying forgotten, on her bed. She picked it up and stared disinterestedly at the front cover. "I can't see you owning a cat, either."

"That would be... interesting."

"To say the least," Kuroki snorted. "Ah... I guess the only animal I can think of that matches you is... a bird of prey. Like an eagle or something."

"That wouldn't quite be suitable for a pet, though," Tezuka answered, facing forward and tossing Kuroki the ice pack over his shoulder. She caught it but flinched and dropped it.

"That is _cold!_" she hissed, hugging the pillow to her chest while kicking the ice pack onto her desk. "I knew it! You're an ice cube, there's no other way you could stand something so freezing cold!" She paused in her rant for a moment before squeaking and flinging the pillow into the air.

"Aggh, I knew it! Now that spot on my bed is freezing too!" she wailed, chucking the pillow at Tezuka again.

"It'll warm up. I fail to see the problem," Tezuka answered, catching the pillow easily and blinking at Kuroki's outburst.

"I hate sleeping in a cold bed," Kuroki pouted, folding her arms across her chest. "Eh... speaking of sleeping... It's 10:30 and we have school tomorrow. We should go to sleep. Here." She pushed a heavy blanket off her bed and into Tezuka's lap, tossing a pillow on top.

"I'm sleeping!" she announced, turning over on her side so that she was facing the wall, her back to Tezuka. He formed a makeshift bed right beside Kuroki's own bed, since their handcuffs didn't allow for them to be further than four feet apart.

He turned over so that his own back was facing Kuroki, then blinked when he heard the clattering of the chains. He couldn't pull his right arm, the handcuffed one, any further. He sweat dropped.

"Hah... The chain is so short."

Grumbling to herself, Kuroki rolled over so that she was lying on the very edge of the bed, on her back with her left chained hand dangling over the edge.

"You're going to fall off like this," Tezuka warned.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"... We could both sleep on the floor."

Kuroki cracked open an eye. "Why? There's a bed right here and I'm lying on it. It's very comfortable and I don't want to get off of it."

"You're going to end up falling off the bed and crushing me if you're sleeping like that," Tezuka pointed out. "There's not enough room on the bed for the both of us. Therefore the most logical course of action is for both of us to sleep on the floor."

Kuroki responded by dropping her blankets and pillow on him.

"You and your stupid logic," she sniffed, stepping over him and making her own makeshift bed on the other side of him. "There, I'm sleeping on the floor. Happy now?"

"I never said I was unhappy," Tezuka retorted.

"I'm going to pretend that you just said yes and give you this evil smile."

"... Alright...?"

"Kakura, lights off please!"

* * *

"She fainted and your parents are out. So you call us, and we come over to your house to find you poking her with a stick. Where did you even get a stick?" Daichi sighed, face palming as Suigo ignored him and continued to poke Sayuki's arm with said stick.

"Do you think she'll wake up if I put a Pocky in her mouth?" Kaze asked, rolling a strawberry Pocky around in his mouth. He sat cross legged on Sayuki's temporary bed beside Ryoma, dangling a Pocky above Sayuki's face.

"Stop it," Ryoma muttered, swatting Kaze's hand away. Kaze blinked, then shrugged it off, biting into the Pocky.

"Gimme one," Suigo grinned, snatching Kaze's box.

"In any case," Daichi cut in, swiping the box from Suigo and tossing it back to Kaze, "Sayuki fainted from overuse of her eyes. Again. What did your parents make her do?"

"She didn't tell me, she just said some experiments," Suigo answered, pouting at his lack of Pocky. "And I couldn't ask my parents because they were already out buying dinner and stuff when she fainted."

"Are you sure it wasn't just from this?" Kaze held up the fruit smoothie bottle.

"Might be." Suigo grinned sheepishly. "I look up to Inui-senpai?"

"Idiot," the other three muttered in unison.

"Whatever." Suigo went back to poking Sayuki. Ryoma reached over and broke the poking stick cleanly in two, tossing the pieces into the trash can in the corner of the room.

"What is it with you and poking people?" Ryoma grumbled, slouching back onto the bed.

"Well it's not like we're doing anything productive by just sitting here and waiting for her to wake up anyways," Suigo complained. "So I figured I might as well poke her to make her wake up faster."

"She's unconscious, not sleeping," Daichi groaned exasperatedly. "She's not going to wake up just because you're jabbing her with a stick. If anything, you're going to end up giving her a bruise."

"I still think we should give her some Pocky."

"Shut up, Kaze," the other three answered.

"Just because you can handle her hyper doesn't mean we can," Suigo muttered, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Actually, I think Echizen can handle her better than I can," Kaze answered, tilting his head to the side. Ryoma blinked.

"Thanks...?" Ryoma glanced at Sayuki. Her face wasn't peaceful like when she was sleeping, but rather completely wiped of emotion.

"Suigo, what are you doing?" Daichi's question drew Ryoma's attention to Suigo, who was rummaging around Sayuki's desk.

"Aha! Found it!"

"... Watanuki, I _will_ break that ruler and the pieces will join the stick in the trash bin."

"You're no fun," Suigo grumbled, tossing the ruler back on the desk. "Besides, this isn't even my ruler. You'd have to deal with a pissed off Sayuki if you broke it."

"I'd just get her another one, since that's the one that _she_ borrowed from _me_ and never gave back," Ryoma answered nonchalantly.

"Tch, so cool, hardly anything ever gets to you, huh?" Suigo muttered. Ryoma gave a wistful smirk.

"I wish. If that was the case, then I wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't go emo on me, that's my job." Sayuki smacked Ryoma's arm as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Damn, I'm tired..."

"Being annoyingly cheerful and sometimes scary is your job," Ryoma answered, playfully punching her. "So don't go fainting all the time, it makes you look like a damsel in distress."

"Man, 'Sayuki' and the words 'damsel in distress' _really_ don't go well together," Suigo commented.

"Just like how the words 'emo' and 'prince of tennis' sound rather amusing but disturbing when placed in the same sentence," Kaze added lazily, rolling another stick of Pocky around in his mouth. He held one out to Sayuki. "Want one?"

"No, Ryoma would kill me," Sayuki grinned. She paused thoughtfully. "Well, more like I'd drive all of you insane and then when Suigo's parents come home they're going to have to send all of you to an insane asylum. And then Kuroki would kill Ryoma for letting me have sugar. And _then_ I might end up killed. From an overdose of sugar."

"Where do get all that Pocky from anyways?" Daichi asked, taking the last one in the box. Kaze blinked, then began rummaging around in his pockets. He pulled out several more boxes of Pocky, opened a chocolate flavored one, and began munching away.

"How... never mind, I probably don't wanna know."

"Kaze the the magical Pocky man," Sayuki grinned. She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Did Suigo call all of you here? Sorry about that..."

"It's no pro-"

"I _will_ set your room on fire if you say that again," Ryoma growled.

"Translation: I really care for you so don't go and saying that you're a bother to me," Sayuki giggled. "Ryoma, you suck with words."

"Well... I guess no espresso pillows for you then," he answered with a shrug.

"... What the hell are espresso pillows?"

Ryoma pulled a small circular tin out of his pocket and showed them what was inside. They looked liked coffee beans, and he popped a few in his mouth as he began to explain.

"They're just bits of toffee covered in dark chocolate." There was a loud _crack_ as he bit down on one. "In the shape of coffee beans... I figured that Sayuki would like them. And since they're so small, we can regulate the amount of sugar she has."

"I want them!" Sayuki grinned, grabbing a handful.

"Hey guys, couldn't we use these to get Sayuki halfway between hyper and sane?" Daichi said thoughtfully, staring at the beans. "You know... just enough to get her eyes to change to the weird mirror ones, but not enough for her to go crazy."

"Then..." Suigo snapped his fingers and they all nodded.

"We could get me to my original eyes, hopefully without me fainting..."

* * *

"N... nmgh..." Kuroki opened her eyes blearily.

Morning... it was warm. She didn't want to get up. She sighed and pressed her forehead to the blue wall...

Her wall wasn't blue. And this wall was warm.

Kuroki almost bolted but the jingling of the chains reminded her what had happened. With a resigned sigh, she poked Tezuka's chest.

"Wake up." He stirred, eyes still glazed over with sleep.

"Nnuh?"

"Good, you're awake." Kuroki smiled, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Now please stop hugging me."

"Ah..." Tezuka sat up, running a hand through his hair. That's right... He was in Kuroki's room. His head didn't hurt anymore... but he was tired. He usually had no problem with waking up in the mornings, so why was he so tired?

"What time is it?" he asked, looking around for his glasses. Kuroki stood up, dragging him with her.

"It's..." Kuroki squinted at the alarm clock on her desk, handing Tezuka his glasses. "5:45. We have a long time before we have to go to school."

"Thank you," he said, putting on his glasses. "Do you always wake up this early? It seems... unusual for your character."

"Yeah, I'm a morning person," Kuroki answered, kicking at the sheets on the floor. "Sayuki said the same thing as you, but... My parents say it's cause I was born in the morning. Kakura, where are you?" The weasel squeaked, appearing from under the sheets on the bed.

"Go get my sisters, I need to go to the bathroom and they have the key." The weasel ran off to obey.

"They won't be pleased with being woken up so early in the morning," Tezuka commented, trailing after Kuroki as she wandered around the room, opening her window's blinds or grabbing her school uniform.

"It's just payback for this," Kuroki answered with a wry grin, holding up her chained hand. "School is still gonna be a pain in the ass. We're gonna have to tell the teacher to switch our seats."

"Why?" he asked as she flopped back onto the bed.

"Your right hand is handcuffed to my left," Kuroki pointed out. "It's good since it's not our dominant hands, but you sit diagonally from me, on my right and forward. The chain isn't long enough for that distance. It might work if we switched spots though."

"Ah." Tezuka considered the move. "... I'd be sitting in front of Nakamura-san."

"Yup, have fun dealing with Yukina," Kuroki grinned. "She's pretty crazy."

"... With that coming from you, I fear for my sanity."

"Hey, I'm better than Sayuki at least," Kuroki shot back. Tezuka opened his mouth to reply when they heard a loud thump... and saw the entire door fall to the floor.

"Woman, why would you wake us up at 5:50 in the morning?" Aoiri asked in a low, dangerous tone. Kuroki shrugged nonchalantly.

"I have to go to the bathroom. I'm only human. And you guys are the one who handcuffed us so..."

Without a word, Akai flung the key at Kuroki with deadly aim, almost hitting her younger sister's eye had Tezuka not caught it before it hit her face. The normally hyperactive twin stormed away, Kakura tailing her with a few nervous squeaks.

"Akai is still scary when half-asleep," Aoiri observed dryly. "This is why you don't wake us up. Well? Go to the bathroom. I'll be here to make sure you get the cuffs back on."

"Damn, and I was hoping you'd forget..."

* * *

Tezuka and Kuroki stood outside outside their classroom. Kuroki scratched her head as Tezuka waited for her to walk in.

"Aren't you going to go in?" he asked when she still didn't walk in. She let out a huge sigh.

"I think this is the first time I _really_ don't want to go to class," she grumbled, sliding the door open. "Prepare yourself for the attack."

"Attack...?" he asked, half-following, half-stumbling after Kuroki into the classroom. The teacher was in the room but class hadn't started yet, so Kuroki went straight up to the teacher to request their seat change, explaining their situation.

"Actually, could you just get Kitty Boy to unlock this for us?" Kuroki asked. The teacher looked expectantly at Eiji who shrugged sheepishly.

"Don't have it sensei," he answered, turning his pockets inside out to prove his point. "They told me that they're going to switch around who has the key so I might get it later or I might never get it-nya."

"Well that's troublesome," the teacher sighed, adjusting his glasses. "In that case, feel free to sit in any way that is most comfortable. I'll expect that you'll do your best to not disturb the class and concentrate on your notes."

"Will do, teach," Kuroki answered with a mock salute. They headed to their new seats, with Tezuka still confused about the "attack."

"Man, the fangirls are gonna be pissed about this," Eiji whispered as Tezuka sat down. Tezuka blinked as he realized that all of the girls in the room, save for Kuroki and Yukina, were glaring at Kuroki.

"You'll end up being dragged into the mess since you're handcuffed," Yukina observed.

"That's the attack you have to be ready for," Kuroki muttered under her breath. "Apple, Kitty Boy, if you two don't want to be dragged into the mess, you guys better stay away."

"I guess," Fuji smiled. "In any case, we'll be able to tell the high school tennis coach that Tezuka won't be attending the club today."

"Sucks for him, he can't even release his rage through tennis," Kuroki grumbled. "And I have had rage building for the past couple of weeks. Ow!" She flinched as something hit the back of her head. Tezuka felt himself being jerked forward as she did so and stopped himself from crashing into the desk with left hand. He nearly fell out of his seat when Kuroki turned around, jerking his arm again.

"The hell was that?" she muttered, facing forward again. She picked up the eraser that had been thrown at her and noticed the note attached to it.

_Bitch. Like hell this is your sisters' doing. I know what this is really about._

_Hands off my Tezuka-kun._

"Alright, class is beginning!" the teacher announced as Kuroki crumpled the note with a fist.

_Sorry, Sayuki, but I'm probably gonna end up beating up this Gaichu today._

* * *

"It's nice to finally be going back to school," Sayuki said with a content sigh as she walked into the classroom, followed by Suigo and Ryoma.

"Try not to faint again," Ryoma warned, flicking her on the forehead as they took their seats. "Otherwise this experiment isn't going to work."

"Yeah, I know," Sayuki shrugged. She checked the clock as the bell rang and the teacher entered the room. "Alright, it's been fifteen minutes." Ryoma slipped an espresso pillow into Sayuki's hand, which she promptly popped into her mouth and bit down on with a crunch before the teacher turned around. Sakuno glanced questioningly at Sayuki, who usually never ate in class. Sayuki winked at her friend and mouthed _I'll tell you later. Just cover for me for now_.

And so it went. Every quarter of an hour, Ryoma, Suigo, Kaze, or Daichi would find some way to pass an espresso pillow to her, which she immediately ate. Sometimes the others or Sakuno would draw the teacher's attention away from Sayuki. It didn't stop their classmates from noticing, though.

"What the hell is this new game?" Megami Gaichu's best friend hissed as Sayuki passed her, walking out the classroom to lunch.

"An experiment," Sayuki answered, her face carefully blank. "Speaking of experiments, I have one for Gaichu..."

* * *

"Fine, it sounds interesting," Megami's friend smirked. "When will we do it?"

"I'll tell you when... play your part well, for your sake. This is in place of my friends and I giving Gaichu a punishment."

"She already has two weeks suspension, what more do you want?" the girl demanded.

"She drowned me in the _toilet_. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to take my 'pill.'"

* * *

"What is it _now_!" Kuroki hissed as she felt her left arm being pulled.

"I'm using my eraser," Tezuka answered dully. They were both fed up with the handcuffs and being pulled around by each other, though Tezuka was predictably hiding it better than Kuroki.

"Erase with your left hand!" Kuroki grumbled. She felt something drop on her shoulder and she let out a growl, grabbing the note with her left hand (almost dragging Tezuka out of his desk) and chucked it back to wherever it came from. There was a clatter as Tezuka's desk finally toppled over from Kuroki's force.

He sighed, set the desk upright again, and sat down, rubbing his wrist. It now had an angry red ring around it from all the times he had been pulled. Their classmates ignored the interruption, it being a normal occurrence after three periods. Every once in a while, one of the two would move their arm the wrong way and cause the other to snap at them. During their few peaceful moments, one of Tezuka's fans would throw an angry note at Kuroki, who would either endeavor to ignore it, write a pissed off reply note, or simply throw it back to where it came from.

_Fangirls will never learn_, Yukina thought, watching as the note Kuroki had thrown back hit the writer square in the face. The writer scribbled another note furiously and waited for a friend to walk by. The friend took the note and taped it to Kuroki's back under the pretence that there was a fly on her. Before Fuji, Eiji, or herself could peel it off and make fun of Kuroki for it, Tezuka ripped the note off himself.

"This was on your back," he drawled, flicking the note at her when she opened her mouth to yell at him again.

"Ah... thanks." She blinked and took the note. When she was done reading it, there was a twitch in her eyebrow as she tossed it into the trash can.

"It's a very good thing you didn't read that one," she said. "That's just _disgusting!_ Where would they even get that idea?"

"I... want to know, but at the same time, I get a very strong feeling that I _don't_," Tezuka muttered.

"Damn straight. I'm going to pretend that note never happened."

There was a peaceful silence in the classroom as all the students did their work.

"DAMMIT Eis, stop MOVING!"

* * *

"So we've been doing this 'feed Sayuki the espresso pillow' thing for about half a day," Daichi commented as Sayuki bit down on another chocolate covered toffee. "Feel anything different?"

"Yup, I feel somewhat twitchy," she answered. "Do you guys see anything different about my eyes?"

"Lemme see," Ryoma commanded. She turned to him and he stared at her eyes for a moment. "They... look the somewhat like usual, but it's like..." He struggled for words to describe it. "You know that video that we watched in class? The one part where they layered the video and changed the opacity so that you could see both videos at the same time?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Suigo said, squinting at Sayuki. "So what does this mean?"

"Your parents have to figure that out," Kaze answered, licking his lips as if he were eating another Pocky. The teacher had confiscated all his Pocky; they were all amazed at just how _much_ the boy could fit on her person.

"In any case," Daichi sighed, "we've done enough experimenting today. No more sugar for Sayuki."

"But I liked those!" she pouted. Sighing, Ryoma pulled out the tin and gave her one.

"Last one," he told her. She grinned and popped it into her mouth.

"Yaknowit onlytakesone tomakeme gohyper."

"... There are no words to describe how much I want to kill right now."

* * *

_No I did not actually get the handcuff idea from Death Note, although admittedly I _was_ reading Death Note at the time I was typing this chapter. I forgot to say this, but the Respect and Honor is credits to my two classmates in last year's Spanish. Rezpekt and Onour, yo. The barnacle thing is something that my history/language arts teacher actually does say. And yeah, the books Kuroki mentioned are actual books by that author. Thank you Wikipedia. :3_

_Nadal vs Federer, anyone?  
_

_So... Why do I hate this chapter? I had the worst case of Writer's Block that I have ever experienced while writing this, and this... THING is the reason for the lack of updates lately. I literally could not write a word without it sounding weird and unnatural. It was _that_ bad. And I also had an essay question on a test while I had the Writer's Block, so..._

_I actually got more than 100% on that question. Huh. I guess the weirdness was only in my head._

_Man, I totally had this three page rant all planned out but I decided to spare you guys. Because I love you all. lessthanthree :D  
_

_In any case, many thanks to Sakka and Ryuu and Master Lang (if you read this) for putting up with me and helping me through this chapter! :D_

_I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I'll try to put up something random like the cookie filler pt 2 if I can't update the regular chapters. And don't even get me started on the specials. Those have been untouched since the last update. Eheh. Yeah I'll get to work on those... as soon as I get my next big break._

_Thanks for your patience, you guys! You are all invited to the cookie party. Just don't eat the ones Akai and Aoiri made. (The theme for the Cookie shorts is The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars :3)  
_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)_


	8. Chapter 6

_Sorry for the late update you guys. I'll give you no excuses, just me being lazy and forgetting to update._

_By the way, I just got my 100th review for FSC and ODL combined! The 100th review goes to **MoonPalace**, who left a very enthusiastic and kind review on Flip Side of the Coin._

_Thanks for all the support you guys! I'm posting a chapter to celebrate. :D_

_-Kai_

... *waves celebration flag* Yay.

~Ryuu

* * *

"Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom, bathroom!" Kuroki hissed, jumping up and down in front of a bewildered Taka. Tezuka, standing behind her as far away as the handcuffs would allow, sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The girl had become increasingly irritated and irritat_ing_ as the day went on. She had growled at him for every little thing and snapped at everyone around her for the most idiotic of things. Everyone had stayed far, far away from her after she nearly punched Yukina for an offhand comment. Luckily, Kuroki had tried to do it with her left hand and Tezuka was able to yank back on the chain before Yukina was injured. Unfortunately for Tezuka, Kuroki was sent to the principal's office, and he was forced to tag along and explain their situation.

"Uh... here." Taka tossed Kuroki the key, who immediately unlocked the cuffs and dashed off to the bathroom, dropping the key halfway down the hall. Tezuka bent down to pick it up, rubbing his right wrist. It had only been a day, and he already had a mark...

"It must've been tough dealing with her all day," Taka said sympathetically, hanging onto the key and handcuffs for the moment. Tezuka grunted in agreement.

"Not nearly as frustrating as dealing with Saiki on sugar rush, though," Tezuka commented absently. "When it comes to that, I don't think there's a person in the world who can put up with her."

"Yeah..." Taka glanced at Tezuka. "We'll be missing you at tennis today."

"Hn... I would prefer not to skip as well. I'm not quite sure how Kokoro's sisters managed to bend the school rules that much," Tezuka admitted.

"According to my parents, they've been in juvie before but they let them out early because the other inmates said that they're apparently _really creepy to talk to_," Kuroki grumbled, rubbing her left wrist like Tezuka as she returned.

"And they haven't been back in there before?" Tezuka asked as Taka snapped the handcuffs back on. Kuroki didn't even bother trying to struggle this time; she had learned her lesson the first time when Fuji had passed by and tossed Taka a tennis racket.

_Damned secret sadist_, Kuroki grumbled to herself. "Oh, they've been in and out plenty of times. I think. Then again, they could just be tricking me like that one time when I was eight when they told me they were going to jump off a cliff when they were _really_ just going to the beach with their boyfriends."

"Have they really done things bad enough to get them in jail?" Taka asked as they headed back to the classroom to grab their lunches.

"Meh, they've done things bad enough to have their paychecks cut three times in two days," Kuroki shrugs. "And before you ask, they're like... video game designers, I suppose is how you put it. They mainly focus on designing the characters."

"How are they always at home, then?" Tezuka slid the door open with his left hand. His foot still hurt from when Kuroki had stomped on it back when he had accidentally tried it with his right.

"My sisters always try to be at the place that the most interesting thing is happening," Kuroki grumbled, grabbing her lunch box off her desk. "And they switch off sometimes. Unexpectedly, they also do overtime. That, and any time that their workplace is Akai and Aoiri-free is very, very good time to get things done."

"I suppose that makes sense." Tezuka glanced at Kuroki as the chain jingled and flinched.

"Fuji is going to have the key next," Taka announced. "I'm off to find him."

"Mm," Tezuka answered absently, watching Kuroki warily. The door slid closed, and Tezuka finally dared to speak.

"Your eyes..." He began quietly. Kuroki whirled her head towards him, granting him full view of her eyes. He blinked in surprise. He could've sworn...

"What about my eyes?" Kuroki asked in a dangerously low tone.

"I thought they were red, but they're bloodshot..." Tezuka was reminded, for a moment, of Kirihaya Akaya, the violent tennis player that Fuji had played.

"... Get out of here..."

"I am chained to you," Tezuka pointed out as calmly as he could.

"Death Gods don't hand out mercy on a daily basis. I can't control my Shinigami anger much longer. Last warning. _Leave,_ even if you have to break the chain." A half-buried memory stirred inside of Tezuka...

"I do fear the Totengott, but you are only human. Therefore, I have nothing to fear."

Kuroki's shape blurred across his vision (_it's only a tennis serve_), her right hand curled into a fist (_it's Echizen's Twist Serve aiming for your face_) as she aimed a blow right at his face (_dodge it or hit it, dodge it or hit it!_).

Just as he raised a hand to block her punch, she froze and blinked. Her eyes were still bloodshot, but they not longer seemed menacing. In fact, it looked more like she had been crying all day and night.

"... Ow." They both looked at Kuroki's left hand, then at the desk she had knocked over in her blind rage to destroy _destroydestroydestroy kill somethinganything_.

"A... hah..." Tezuka heaved a huge sigh, the biggest Kuroki had heard from him yet, and dropped down into the seat behind him.

"Um." Kuroki leaned on a desk and tried to right the fallen desk with her foot, but gave up and ended up putting it back into its original position with her hands. Tezuka reflexively extended his arm to give her more room to work with.

"Are you still in Shinigami?" he asked. She glanced at him, eyes just a little red, and tilted her head to the side.

"No... I don't think so," she answered slowly. "I'm still annoyed, but right now all I can think of is 'ow goddammit shit my hand hurts agh agh agh agh fucking hell ass balls Jesus owww.' I think I need an ice pack."

"It's not bleeding, is it?" Tezuka asked, somewhat concerned.

"Ah, no, it's just gonna be pretty badly bruised tomorrow," Kuroki answered absently, watching her left hand. "Look, it's already turning different colors."

"I'll bring our lunches," Tezuka grunted with a grimace as he saw her injury. "We're going to the infirmary to get you an ice pack."

"Okay." He grabbed their boxes and they made their way to the school's health room in somewhat uncomfortable silence. He glanced at her warily. She seemed far calmer than she had been before she had snapped, but she still hadn't released her pent up stress, and the calm before the storm... like she had said, it was probably only her blanking out from the pain.

"Oh! Right, I almost forgot to ask," Kuroki said, blinking. She turned to Tezuka curiously. "You said Totengott. What is that?"

"It's literally German for 'Dead God'," he explained. "I went to a church in Germany and I heard them..." He half shrugged.

"Ah..."

"It's hypocritical for you to give monosyllabic responses," Tezuka pointed out.

"Sorry, but pain is making me incoherent," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. She nodded at the door they had stopped in front of. "So we're here. Who's opening the door?"

"I have my hands full," he answered dryly.

"But I also have my dominant hand chained to you so that I can't move it and my other hand is in a whole other universe of pain."

They stared at the door for a moment. Then they both lifted their right legs, put their shoes against the door, and slid the door open with a bang. The nurse, who was treating a student with a cut on his arm, yelped and jumped in her seat with surprise. The student's voice reached embarrassingly high pitches when the nurse accidentally rubbed the wound the wrong way.

"Pardon us for intruding," the duo announced in tandem, Tezuka in his usual polite tone and Kuroki in her bitingly sarcastic one.

"But I kind of have this really bad bruise and I need some ice on it now before I scream bloody murder," Kuroki continued, lifting up her left hand so that everyone in the room could see it slowly changing from bright red to a sickly greenish-purple mix.

"Ah, of course," the nurse said, nodding over to a corner of the room. "Ice is over there."

"Thanks..." Kuroki grabbed a pack and let it sit on her hand, letting out a sigh of relief. "Okay, Eis, let's go."

"Eis hände," Tezuka answered smugly. "Or Totengott."

Kuroki muttered something incomprehensible under her breath and barely resisted the urge to smack Tezuka with her injured hand. The only thing stopping her from doing so was her lunch that he held in his hands.

She had tuna sushi today. You do _not_ mess up your lunch when you have tuna sushi.

"I love tuna sushi," she sighed.

"... What in the world are you talking about?"

* * *

"If Kaze is magical Pocky man, then Sayuki is Wonder Pickle Girl," Suigo muttered, watching Sayuki turn cartwheels, somersaults, and randomly do jumping jacks all over the place, all while eating from a jar of pickles.

"Do I even want to know where she gets those anymore?" Daichi asked, sweat dropping.

"I think that's the jar I got her," Ryoma answered, squinting at the jar. Trying to read the label was extremely difficult, especially since the jar was in the hands of a very hyper girl.

"Well now we know that it takes about 20 or so espresso pillows to get her hyper," Kaze commented. "Here, Sayuki." He tossed her a box of Pocky. She reached out to grab it, but it was intercepted by Ryoma.

"No more sugar for you," he told her, tapping her on the head with the box. Sayuki grumbled to herself about him lording his height over her and walked away.

"I'mgoingtogotellKaidoh-senpaitodoubleeverybody'," Sayuki announced. "Seeyoufourlater." She raced down the stairs, leaving the four boys blinking at each other.

"Ah... Knowing Kaidoh-senpai, he'll probably _quadruple_ it," Ryoma sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Though he probably won't understand a word of what Sayuki's saying..."

"Hell no, I am _not_ doubling our training!" Suigo yelled, leaping to his feet. "I already hate it enough!" Suigo leaped down the steps, followed by Daichi (who was tagging along to make sure Suigo didn't do anything idiotic) and Kaze (who had nothing better to do).

Ryoma blinked when he realized that he was suddenly alone.

"The hell was all that about...?"

* * *

"Calm down, vorgeben Tottengot."

Kuroki froze and turned around to face Tezuka.

"You know, eventually we're going to run out of desks for me to crash into, and you're going to run out of interesting German words to snap me out of my Shinigami mode," Kuroki grumbled, sitting back down in her desk and sparing the whimpering fangirl.

"You're going to run out of sympathy and end up getting expelled," Tezuka answered blandly. "And I won't help you. You'd deserve it."

"I can't help it man, I have no anger management," Kuroki mumbled. They were having a self-study period and the teacher was in the bathroom, so suddenly all the girls in class became interested in bothering Kuroki. Tezuka knew she wasn't taking it well at _all_, added to the stress of Sayuki being bullied and Sayuki's eye problem.

It still didn't make beating up people a justifiable form of stress relief.

"So anyways," Kuroki began, snapping Tezuka out of his train of thoughts, "what does vorgenben mean?"

"Pretend," Tezuka answered. "You should get a dictionary instead of asking me all the time."

"But dictionaries are boring," Kuroki whined, pressing her cheek to her desk. "Besides, I have you and Sayuki."

"Hn..."

"I _will_ go Shinigami on your Ice Cube ass. I will snap, grab a tennis ball and racket, drag you to the tennis court, break the handcuffs, and go Shinigami on you."

"In which case we would both be free to run," Tezuka drawled, barely looking up from his book.

"Psh, yeah right, like _you'd_ run," Kuroki snorted, waving her unchained hand. Throughout the day, they had finally learned to avoid using their chained hands. Kuroki had broken a desk one time while doing so, and her hand was only getting worse.

"You're all honorable and crap like a samurai, right?" she continued, leaning back in her chair. "You'd probably wait for me to run first and _then_ go, saying that it was fine since I wasn't around anyways."

"We are discussing a hypothetical situation that will most likely never become true," Tezuka pointed out. "So you still don't know for sure."

"Screw the hypothetical, we seriously have to figure out how to get out of this." Kuroki lifted up her left hand, stared at the chain... and began chewing on it.

"What in the world are you doing?" Tezuka demanded, yanking the chain away from her.

"Sorry!" Kuroki yelped, blinking at his outburst. "I'm desperate! It's really pissing me off!"

"I would expect this sort of thing from a hyper Saiki-san, not from a very irritable you," Tezuka deadpanned. "Besides, this is exactly the kind of thing that make our classmates think that you're crazy." Kuroki glanced around the room, and sure enough, everybody was giving her strange looks.

"Well I guess that just makes you the person who hangs out with a girl who really needs to see a shrink," Kuroki answered with a shrug.

"I do not 'hang out' with you; if you haven't noticed, I'm _handcuffed_ to you and thus unable to go further than five feet away from you."

"You make it sound like I'm a bad thing."

"Once again: the insane girl that bites on chains."

"... Okay, you might have a point there."

* * *

"Damn Sayuki getting stupid Captain to _quintiple_ the stupid training," Suigo grumbled, kicking the fence. "Is quintiple even a WORD?"

"Who knows?" Daichi answered with a shrug. "C'mon, Sui, the sooner we get started the sooner we can get this over with."

"Sometimes I envy a hyper Sayuki," the other boy sighed, reaching into his bag to pull out his tennis racket. "She _never_ runs out of energy."

"Sayuki, STOP SINGING TECHNOLOGIC!"

"Poor Momo-senpai," Daichi said sympathetically, sweat dropping. Daichi and Suigo watched as Sayuki continued to drive their senpai insane with her hyperspeak, then as Ryoma crossed the courts calmly and said a few words to Sayuki. Sayuki's expression turned from full of glee to thoughtful, then to confused as Ryoma walked away with a very grateful Momo.

"What was that about?" Suigo called. Ryoma glanced up at him, then nodded over his shoulder to Sayuki.

"Ask her yourself," he answered with a smirk.

"No thank you, I like my sanity very much."

"Does she even _know_ American Sign Language?" Kaze mumbled, walking over to Suigo and Daichi. He crouched down and began rummaging through his bags for another box of Pocky. "This _is_ Japan, after all..."

"What?"

"Echizen just told her to do the Technologic song in ASL," Kaze answered, crunching down on a Pocky. "Should be interesting."

"I _really_ wanna watch this," Suigo grinned, setting his racket down.

"Start training. _Now._" Kaidoh towered menacingly over the trio with the scariest face EVER.

"Meep. Yes Captain. Right away!" Suigo cowered behind Daichi and Kaze, who both sighed and walked away.

"Psshhh... What in the world is Saiki doing?"

"Uh... I believe that is ASL," Suigo answered sheepishly.

"... _Why_ is she doing ASL?"

"It improves your dexterity, reflexes, and memory. It's a very good exercise."

"And why isn't she doing JSL instead?" Kaidoh asked. Suigo shrugged.

"I dunno Captain, you'd have to ask her or Ryo-respect for that. But Sayuki would give you some super long explanation that you wouldn't be able to understand because she'd be using really big words and talking really fast, while Ryo-spect probably won't tell you. Anyways, I'm off to go do my training..."

"... Pshu..."

* * *

"Oh my GOD, _finally _done with school!" Kuroki yelled, leaping out of her seat as soon as the last bell rang. Tezuka hadn't been expecting her outburst, and so his desk, with him in it, crashed to the floor. He blinked, then got out of the desk, dragging Kuroki towards him on accident. She tripped over the fallen desk, and it took three other students to help them untangle the chain from the legs of the desk and put the desk upright. By then, only Eiji, Fuji, Tezuka, and Kuroki were left.

"No more school!" Kuroki grinned, suddenly cheerful despite the fact that everyone in the whole _school_, and probably within a thirty mile radius, could feel her seething anger just mere moments before. "That means no more dealing with annoying fangirls and teachers and principals and nurses and ice packs and having to try not to go Shinigami! I can't believe I actually got through today without punching someone!"

"Correction: You did end up punching Nakamura-chan, and you would've hit our English teacher for giving us homework if the chain didn't stop you," Fuji commented, smiling as always. "You should follow Sayuki-chan's advice and go take anger management lessons. Or see a therapist, whichever is more effective."

"Details," Kuroki sniffed, waving him off. "Besides, any therapy lessons would be canceled out by a hyper Sayuki. And my anger is impossible to manage."

"Sorry to disturb you two discussing how crazy the Weasel Girl is, but what in the _world_ is Sayuki-chan doing?" Eiji asked, squinting out the window and pointing at the tennis courts of Seigaku. Kuroki skipped over, and I mean she _literally_ skipped, dragging Tezuka with her to the window.

"Huh, Seigaku looks a lot closer than I thought," Kuroki commented, trying to find Sayuki in the crowd of people.

"Seigaku _is_ located right next to the high school," Tezuka commented. He tapped his finger on the window. "She's right there, if you haven't found her yet."

"Thanks... Good point, Kitty. What _is_ she doing? Apple, do you know?"

"Who knows? She seems to be doing some sort of sign language," Fuji answered, opening his eyes to see properly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if my parents were teaching Sayuki sign languages of different countries too," Kuroki muttered.

"Though letters?" Tezuka asked skeptically.

"Oh, my parents have their ways. They're _my_ parents. They're my _sisters'_ parents. Where do you think we got our craziness from, huh?"

"Man, sucks for Tezuka-nya," Eiji grinned. "He has to meet the crazy parents."

"All of you are meeting them too," Kuroki smirked. "My parents like to know who my friends are. And they're definitely not letting this go once they hear that most of my friends are guys."

"... Dang..."

"Well, that seems interesting," Fuji smiled. "I'll be looking forward to that."

"... Apple, has anyone ever told you that you're a really nice guy but you come off as a creep sometimes?"

* * *

"Buy, use, break, fix, trash, change, mail, upgrade, charge, point, zoom, press, snap, work, quick, erase..." Sayuki stared at her hands. "I don't remember what comes after that."

"Seems like the sugar wore off," Suigo grinned. "Good job, Ryo-spect. We should just get her to do that every time now."

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma answered, patting Sayuki on the head. "Need to buy some food for Karupin today."

"Mhm, I'll get Aoiri-san to send it over then," she answered. She glanced at the high school buildings nearby. "You think that Tezuka-senpai and Kuroki will still be at school?"

"Probably, Captain Tezuka has tennis practice after all," Ryoma replied. "You can go look for them, I'll meet up with you later. I forgot something in my locker."

"'Kaaay," Sayuki drawled, grabbing her bags. "If they're not there, I'll see you in the library. Probably the same table as usual."

"M'kay. See you, then." Sayuki waved as she ran off to the high school. Suigo said that he had to go talk to the principal and Kaze left early, presumably to buy more Pocky. Soon the courts were empty, leaving only Ryoma and Daichi.

"Echizen, I know for a fact that you never use your locker..." Daichi glanced at the boy next to him. "What are you planning?"

"Something..."

* * *

"Pardon my French, but what the merde is that?"

"Pardon my suckish German because I haven't learned much from the Eis Wurfel, but was dis 'merde?'"

"Merde is shit, because I don't think I can translate fuck into French and have it be a strong enough swear." Sayuki ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. "Seriously, what the fuck _is_ that?"

"Handcuffs." Tezuka held up his hand to show her. "What do they appear to be?"

"Okay... And why are you guys handcuffed together? Or do I really not want to know that?"

"Long story short... This is our punishment from my sisters for arguing." Kuroki glared at the chain.

"Don't start chewing it again," Tezuka warned. "You know it doesn't work."

"Lemme guess. Frustrating day?"

"Very," Kuroki grumbled. "Went Shinigami so many times... It's a new record."

"Seven times today," Tezuka confirmed. "It started somewhere around lunch. She punched Nakamura after lunch and almost hit the teacher half a period after that. She bruised her hand and had to go get an ice pack... and now her hand is turning different colors."

"Oo, you're right, it's like a really pretty rainbow..."

Tezuka and Kuroki stared at Sayuki.

"Um. I mean, gee, that looks really nasty. You should probably go see Suigo's parents for that."

"Niiice cover," Kuroki said sarcastically. "Anyways, I have no idea who has the key now. Probably my sisters..."

"Before you ask, _no_, I don't know how to pick the lock." Kuroki glowered, muttering to herself about useless best friends. Ignoring her friend, Sayuki turned to Tezuka.

"So why are you guys still here at the high school's tennis courts?" she asked. "Practice is almost over and there's no way you could've practiced like that."

"Watching is good practice as well," came Tezuka's reply.

"This guy is like a freaking brick wall," Kuroki complained, pointing an accusing finger at Tezuka. "I tried to drag him off to the library to start our homework so many times but he's stubborn and will not move even if you freeze him and cut him into tiny parts and try to move him that way."

"... Not that you've tried or anything, right?" Sayuki asked in a worried tone.

"'Course not, would he still be standing here if..." Kuroki paused. "Huh. I guess the way I put it, he _would_ still be standing here if I tried. Badly phrased on my part."

"I would not be standing here in one piece if you had attempted that," Tezuka suggested.

"Yeah... That."

"Okay, fake lovers, off you two go to do your homework," Sayuki grinned, pushing her senpais out of the school. "Go to the library. I'm going to find Ryoma."

"Meet you at the library then," Kuroki answered, shaking out her injured hand. "We'll probably be there for a while if you can't find Ryo-ryo for any reason."

"Stop talking and _go_."

"Fine..."

* * *

"Tell me the truth. What did you do?"

Ryoma blinked at Daichi, then tried to shoulder past him. Daichi slid defiantly in his way, determined not to let him past.

"If it's something that Sayuki won't approve of..." Daichi said in a warning tone.

"Nothing," Ryoma answered. "I did nothing. Let me through."

"It's not nothing," Daichi growled, getting impatient. "You even said 'something' earlier."

"Getting something from my locker." Annoyance began to creep into Ryoma's voice. "What do you mean by something and nothing?"

"Did you do anything that will hurt Sayuki?" Daichi demanded.

"No," Ryoma grumbled. "You're way too suspicious of people. I went to my _locker._ You see?" Ryoma held up a notebook. "Science notes. We have a science test tomorrow."

"You didn't... do anything that Kuroki would have disapproved of, at least?" Ryoma frowned at the question.

"Of course not," he answered. "I'd have to murder the principal and get caught for her to disapprove of anything. And then she'd yell at me for being sloppy."

"'What have I taught you, huh!'" Daichi said, imitating Kuroki's voice. "Yeah, I'll give you that much. But..." He hesitated. "I was meaning... anything with words."

"Nothing," Ryoma drawled. "Nothing at all. I told you. Can I go through?"

"... Fine." Daichi relented and let Ryoma past. Ryoma glanced at him from the corner of his eye before turning his gaze forward to see Sayuki waiting for him at the school's gates.

"What was that about?" Sayuki asked, bouncing forward. Ryoma gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"Who knows..."

_He's pretty good..._

* * *

Kuroki stared at Tezuka. He sat with his back straight, eyes looking straight ahead. He didn't blink. He didn't look like he was even breathing. Kuroki sighed and dropped her pencil to wave her hand in front of his face, trying to catch his attention.

"What."

"Eis, if you have to use the bathroom, just _say_ so," Kuroki grumbled, dropping her hand. "Stubborn boys." She blinked as a familiar jingle indicated that there were keys nearby.

"See?" Kuroki grinned, standing up. "Akai and Aoiri aren't gonna give you the keys if you don't _ask_. It's not like they can read your minds. Actually," she continued thoughtfully as she led Tezuka towards the source of the keys' clattering, "you didn't go to the bathroom at all today, did you? How the hell have you managed?"

"... Hn." Tezuka's expression was even more serious than usual, even leaning a bit towards a frown or a scowl.

"... Right, I'll ask you after you've gone to the bathroom," she sighed, tapping Aoiri on the shoulder. She took the keys from her sister and unlocked the cuffs, then patted Tezuka on the shoulder. "You see, this is why you actually tell people when you need to go."

Tezuka grunted and shuffled off in the direction of the bathrooms. Kuroki sighed again and facepalmed, shaking her head.

"Damned Ice Cube..."

"So?" Aoiri grinned impishly, spinning the cuffs and keys on one finger. "How was your day?"

"Absolutely fucking terrible," Kuroki groaned. "I punched Yukina and almost hit a teacher, went Shinigami 7 times, and almost got suspended."

"How are you _not_ suspended after hitting someone?" Aoiri blinked. "And what the hell happened to your hand?"

"I only grazed her cheek cause Eis and his godly reflexes got me at the last minute," Kuroki shrugged. "And that's from when I hit my hand on a desk the first time I went Shinigami. Almost hit Eis then."

"Man, poor kid," Aoiri sighed. "So how did they get you calm down 7 times?"

"Sadly enough, Shinigami mode is not made for classrooms," Kuroki grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "I kept bumping into things. Painfully. And if nothing stupid like that happened, Eis would surprise me with some stupid German word."

"Es ist nicht dumm, Totengott." Tezuka walked up from behind Kuroki, his hands shoved in his pockets. Kuroki flipped him off without even turning back.

"Fahr zur Hölle, Eis Wurfel," she replied. Aoiri blinked.

"Translation?"

"It's not stupid, Dead God," Tezuka explained in monotone.

"Go to Hell, Ice Cube," Kuroki continued.

"Awww, you two are all in sync now," Aoiri cooed. "That's so cute."

"Wha-"

"Back on with the cuffs!"

"... I hate you... I hate you _so_ much..."

"I love you too, sis."

* * *

"Doesn't this get annoying?" Sayuki poked at the chain, prompting a glare from Kuroki.

"Yes. Now go bother your boyfriend. I'm doing homework."

"Fine," Sayuki pouted and sulked off, leaving Kuroki to grumble to herself.

"You should have asked her if you wanted her to help you with your English homework," Tezuka commented, pushing the Japanese to English dictionary to Kuroki. Kuroki scowled, taking the dictionary.

"It sucks relying on her all the time," she answered, flipping through the pages. "Besides, I figured since she and Ryoma can't see each other that often anymore, they might as well spend their time together."

"Hn... that is thoughtful of you."

"I could punch you for that 'hn,' but at least you followed it up with an actual sentence." Kuroki groaned, leaning back in her chair and throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Hauugh, I don't want to do anymore homework!"

"You only have this and math left," Tezuka drawled. "Be glad that you even have time to do your homework. Your parents are coming tomorrow, correct?"

"Oh god, that'll be crazy," Kuroki grumbled, hunched back over her papers. "I'm warning you before hand: you better be a damn good actor. They're going to ask you all sorts of questions and make you jump through all sorts of verbal hoops, so be prepared."

"Hn."

"Now _there's_ a reason to punch you."

"Nng. Bad arm."

"Whoops. You okay?"

"... Hn."

"Must... resist... urge... to punch..."

* * *

"Ha... where in the world did Ryoma go?" Sayuki mumbled. She wandered through the bookshelves for a good five minutes before deeming herself lost. With a sigh, she shoved a hand in her pocket, digging around for her iPod. She placed the earphones in her ears and began walking aimlessly through the rows of books again.

"Which song are you listening to?" Sayuki turned around with a start.

"Ah... Fuji-senpai. I'm listening to Beautiful World," she smiled. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I was looking for a good book," Fuji explained, his usual pleasant smile on his face. "Inui is back at the study area."

"You came here with Inui-senpai?" Sayuki asked, blinking. "That's... an odd combination?"

"We just happened to bump into each other." Fuji turned to the shelf, pulling out a book. "He's experimenting with new materials to make Inui Juice. I promised to help him taste test when he's done."

"I see..." Sayuki sweat dropped. "You have a very odd sense of taste."

"Maa, I suppose most people would think that," Fuji answered, placing the book back after flipping through a few pages. "I also like wasabi sushi."

"Wasabi-" Sayuki broke off, blinking as she felt something brushing against her face.

"Hmm, Beautiful World?" Ryoma's face was pressed against Sayuki's as he listened along. "Unexpected of you."

"Ryoma! Where've you been?" Sayuki asked, smacking him lightly on the head. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"I was looking for you," Ryoma answered, standing up straight. He nodded at Fuji. "Hey, Fuji-senpai..."

"Hello, Echizen," Fuji smiled. He held up a book, tapping it on his shoulder. "I found an interesting book, so I'm heading back to see how Inui's doing. You two should come by and try the new juice. He said it'll be interesting."

"Ah... Thanks, but no thanks," Sayuki and Ryoma answered in unison, sweat dropping. Sayuki added, "We'll be with Kuroki and Tezuka-senpai if you need us. They're getting a bit frustrated with the handcuffs, I think..."

"That's a good idea," Fuji agreed. "In any case, see you two around." He walked off, disappearing as he turned a corner.

"Well then..." Sayuki pocketed her iPod. "We're going to be avoiding Inui-senpai for at least a week, aren't we?"

"Mm," Ryoma agreed. "Or at least get him to try it on someone else."

"Yeah... Tezuka-senpai and Kuroki?" Sayuki grinned. Her expression turned thoughtful. "What _is_ Tezuka-senpai's reaction to Inui Juice anyways?"

"Nothing, sadly," Ryoma shrugged as they wound in and out of the bookshelves back to Tezuka and Kuroki's table.

"Darn, it would've been really funny to see him running off," Sayuki muttered. They arrived at the study tables to find Kuroki looking extremely sick and holding back puke. Tezuka was sitting with his back straight, his whole body rigid and his face schooled into an expression of forced calm.

"What the..."

"Ah, Echizen, Saiki, perfect timing." Ryoma and Sayuki's faces twitched as they turned around in unison. Inui's glasses glinted in the light eerily.

"I've just finished perfecting the latest Inui Juice..." He held up a pitcher containing a scary looking black, bubbling, thick goop. "I've already tried it on Fuji, Kokoro, and Tezuka... Would you like to try some?"

Ryoma and Sayuki exchanged glances, turning back to Inui with a gulp.

"We'll pass..."

"I'm afraid that I'm not giving you a choice here."

"Rest in peace, Ryoma."

"When you die, I'm taking your room."

"You can't touch my candy though. That's going to Kuroki."

"And you can't take my room. It's reserved for Karupin."

"Ooh, burn. Overridden by a cat."

"Wel-"

"Take a sip."

"-ughck.."

* * *

"Am I... am I still alive?" Kuroki squinted, her vision blurry. Slowly, everything came into focus and she realized that the bright lights were _not_ the end of the tunnel, but only the lights hanging from the library's ceiling.

"Ah, you're awake." Kuroki turned towards the source of Inui's voice. She felt the urge to beat him up but couldn't place the feeling.

"What was I doing?" she asked, not bothering to lift her head off the table. It was nice and cool... And something smelled good. She licked her lips.

"You were doing your homework," Inui answered, adjusting his glasses. He had his notebook out and his pencil poised, ready to write. "How do you feel?"

"I... I feel funny..." Kuroki answered, still licking her lips. "And my mouth tastes good. Why does my mouth taste good?"

"Hm... Interesting data," Inui muttered. "It seems that the Kurozu has a good aftertaste..." He glanced at Ryoma and Sayuki, still unconscious and slumped in the chair across from Kuroki and Tezuka. Tezuka still hadn't moved at all, and Kuroki hadn't noticed Sayuki and Ryoma yet.

"Something smells really good," Kuroki sighed, sniffing the air. Her tongue darted out again. "Smells like the taste in my mouth..." She turned her head towards Tezuka.

"Tezuka... your mouth smells good."

Tezuka suddenly unfroze from his statue-like state, staring at Kuroki with a slightly disturbed expression on his face. His left eye developed a twitch when Kuroki inexplicably burst out into giggles.

"What is it?" he asked. Kuroki grinned brightly at him.

"I dunno. I'm just happy." She glanced at Inui and began snickering again. "You look like... like... like Momo wearing glasses!" This seemed unreasonably funny to her, because she couldn't hold in her laughter anymore, biting on her fingers and pushing herself away from the table, doubled over herself in trying to contain her giggles.

"Why is she...?" Tezuka asked, unable to form a complete sentence. He was too busy staring, like everyone else in the library, at the girl sitting beside him.

"It appears that one of the after effects of the Kurozu includes becoming high," Inui mumbled to himself, scribbling in his notebook.

"High?"

"Substance intoxication... the after effects of drug use," Inui explained. "The user usually loses all sense of self and begins acting as if he or she is drunk. It appears to him or her that everything in life is to be laughed at."

"I know. I was asking-" Tezuka blinked. What had he been asking? Inui was right, everything in life _was _to be laughed at. Come to think of it, when was Inui ever wrong? Darned data freak. Always had to know everything. He needed a girlfriend.

The thought of Inui with a girlfriend was HILARIOUS. He couldn't even begin to imagine what the girl would be like. Tezuka fought a grin. Why was he trying not to smile? Smiling is good.

Good. Something smelled good. Tezuka looked down and saw _his_ girlfriend. Kuroki was pretty, but she was scary. She wasn't scary now though. She was adorable now. She wouldn't stop laughing. And she smelled _good_.

Inui's glasses glinted in the light as he scribbled furiously, not even bothering to look at his notebook. He probably wasn't even writing in straight lines but it didn't matter. This was very, very good data. This was once-in-a-lifetime, _wondrous_ data. He didn't even stop writing when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Judging from the size of the hand, it was...

"Yes, Fuji?" Inui asked.

"That drink... do you have any more of it?" Fuji asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Kurozu?" Inui questioned. "No, I'm afraid I gave my last to Echizen and Saiki. How do you feel?"

"Saa... I'm very happy right now." Fuji grinned wider than his usual cordial smiles, then frowned. "It would be better, though, with that... ah... Kurozu?"

"I see... Kurozu is very addictive as well," Inui mumbled. "Fuji, you should go home. Your little brother will be waiting." Fuji smiled and nodded, then walked off, stumbling a bit.

"I wonder if he'll be alright," Inui remarked. "... Hm, it's Fuji, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Look! LOOK!" Kuroki was practically shrieking with laughter now. "SMILILNG! Tezuka's about to SMILE! Somebody get a camera!"

"No, I'm not," Tezuka protested. It was no use. His lips were twitching at the corners, like he could barely keep himself from giggling. He kept trying to remember why he wasn't supposed to laugh...

"Tezuka! Tezuka!" Kuroki yanked on the chain of the handcuffs repeatedly. He had almost forgotten those were there (why were they there again?). "Can I call you Kunimitsu?"

"Hn," he answered reflexively. He frowned. He should say more than 'hn.' Why did he say that anyways?

"Ne, ne, Kunimitsu-"

Kunimitsu... He was Tezuka Kunimitsu. That was why.

He dropped down from his exhilarating high. And immediately wanted to shoot himself.

As Kuroki clung to Tezuka's arm and babbled on and on, similar to how Sayuki when she was hyper, and as Tezuka's calm expression became more and more forced, Sayuki cracked open an eye. Ryoma glanced at her with a smirk, his head still hung under the facade that the two were still unconscious.

"You're not high, right?" Sayuki whispered. Ryoma moved his head a fraction of an inch, indicating that he wasn't.

"Most of it wore off while we were out, I think," he answered. "Which is good. I don't think I could survive being around you while you were high."

"Eheh," Sayuki grinned. She shifted her arm, showing Ryoma what she held under the table. "Audio recorder. Aoiri gave it to me earlier. She said that she had seen Inui-senpai earlier and expected something crazy to happen. They're taping all of this, but she wanted really good audio so..." Ryoma grinned.

"Can't wait to show the others when Kuroki's down from her high, neh?"

"Hell yeah..."

* * *

Daichi scowled as he stepped past the school's gates.

"It's not Echizen who's plotting something... It's Sayuki. That idiot! What is she thinking!"

* * *

Tezuka groaned, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up. He held his head in his hands, struggling to remember what had happened. He had realized that he was high... Kuroki had been clinging to him like some fangirl... he shuddered at the thought. And he thought that the one person he would be spared from fangirling would be Kuroki...

And then... Kuroki's sisters had arrived, taken one look at their sister, and started laughing. They had pulled him and Kuroki into Aoiri's car, then... Akai had knocked him out. Because... they were going back to Kuroki's home, and they still didn't want him knowing where they lived.

Tezuka glanced around. Yes, this was Kuroki's room. That also explained the bump at the back of his head. He sighed. The sisters were going to give him a concussion one day...

He heard the clattering of chains and glanced at Kuroki. The after effects of the juice (Kurozu, Inui had called it) had begun to wear off, leaving the girl exhausted. She had probably fallen asleep sometime during the car ride.

"Are you awake?" Tezuka asked, nudging her with his toe. They were on the floor of Kuroki's room, which was carpeted, but she was still wearing her school uniform. "Get up. You're going to get cold."

Kuroki lazily swatted at his foot and rolled over, dragging him with her. He let out a grunt as he fell on top of her. She opened her eyes sleepily to glare at him.

"Gedoff ame."

Tezuka climbed off of her, getting to his feet and pulling Kuroki up with the chain. She yelped as the metal bit into her wrist.

"Ow, that hurt, bastard," she grumbled, getting up by herself. She glanced around. "So? What time is it? What happened?"

"Hn."

"Bastard!" Kuroki punched his arm. "Tell me. It must've been bad."

"Your sisters will tell you, I'm sure," he answered. Kuroki groaned.

"Damn Inui, that son of a..." She let out an exasperated sigh, running a hand through her hair. "Well, I'll deal with him later... More importantly, my parents are going to be here tomorrow." She turned to Tezuka.

"Are you ready for this?"

"Hn. Don't let your guard down."

"Shaddup, same to you man."

* * *

_Kurozu? Why yes._

_All languages in here other than Japanese and Chinese are from gTranslate, so sorry for any mistakes you might see if you actually know the language._

_I feel like I have to say something here but I can't think of anything... Oh, right. Uhh, so my STAR testing is coming up soon, followed by finals, and then graduating from middle school, so I'm going to be busy for the next couple of months. I'll still update and post chapters whenever I can but if I kind of die off in these months, at least you know why. After all this end of the school year craziness is over and I finally settle back into summer vacation, I'll keep updating/posting chapters regularly._

_... **cough** Well, as regularly as I can get. There's still this one side of me that says PROCRASTINATE PLAY EAT TRAVEL but my conscience is like no. Also, my inner I-want-to-be-a-writer-when-I-grow-up is like, 'Deadlines, dude. Get used to them.'_

_So, um, sorry for not being funny down here. And also, sorry if you have to wait for a long time before you get to see Kuroki's parents. I can tell you right now, they're not showing up in chapter 7._

_**starts singing Sorry Sorry by Super Junior**_

_-Kai_

_(AIR BEAST)  
_


	9. Chapter 7

_EDIT: Okay, it seems that fanfiction is being weird and won't let me reply to any of your reviews. So.. sorry about that. ^^'_

_I don't have anything interesting to say at the beginning, do I..._?

_Also, yay foreshadowing?_

_Enjoy!  
_

_-Kai_

...blarg... *falls back to sleep*

~Ryuu

* * *

Tezuka opened his eyes blearily and stiffened in surprise when he saw Kuroki's black eyes watching him with a piercing stare.

"Oh. You're awake," she remarked tonelessly. Tezuka blinked and glanced down at his left arm. Kuroki was holding his arm at the elbow with her freezing fingers, cooling his arm like an ice pack.

"What...?" Kuroki tilted her head a bit to the side.

"You've injured this arm before, right?" she answered. "I used to do with this Sayuki whenever she got hurt. Does it feel better?"

"... You need more sleep," Tezuka said, brushing her hands away. He sat up and fumbled for his glasses, putting them on when he found them. "It's 5:00 AM. Go back to sleep, we still have another hour."

"Un..." She grabbed onto his arm again. "You sleep first."

"Do you promise to rest if I do?" He removed his glasses and placed them in their original position. She nodded lazily, and he lay back down.

"Your arm doesn't hurt anymore?" she murmured, closing her eyes.

"Hn..."

"I hate it when you do that," Kuroki complained, rolling over, blindly groping for Tezuka's arm. "How am I supposed to know what you're thinking if you don't tell me? I'm not a minder reader..."

"You're good enough at reading me without me having to tell you," he answered, taking her flailing hand.

"If I close my eyes like this, I can't tell what you're thinking anymore," she whispered. "When I go blind I don't know anything. You have to tell me."

"Blind...?" He turned his head to glance at her, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw a tear sliding down her face.

"I don't know what you're thinking when I can't even think myself," she whimpered, wiping away the tear. She opened her eyes and turned to him.

"You-"

"Go to sleep." She shoved him halfheartedly. Tezuka frowned and rolled over so that his back faced her. He closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, and strained his ears to hear her.

"Sayuki, Tezuka... it doesn't matter who, I just can't..."

He twisted around, glancing over his shoulder at Kuroki.

"Asleep," he breathed. Another tear escaped her eye. He wiped it away with a finger and tasted it.

"... Salty..."

* * *

"Hng..." Kuroki blinked sleepily and squeaked in surprise, jolting backwards when she saw Tezuka staring at her.

"What is your problem!"she yelped, rubbing her wrist. The handcuff had cut into it again when she had fallen back. "Do you normally stare at sleeping people?"

Tezuka sat up, shaking his head. "It's nothing." He grabbed his glasses and glanced at the clock.

"6:30," Kuroki told him. "I'm going to brush my teeth first." He nodded and they both stood up, walking towards the door. The key slid in the room from underneath, and they both heard footsteps walking away. Kuroki bent down to pick up the key and found a note attached.

_Kuro and Ice Kid:_

_You can take off the cuffs now. You won't need them anymore. Mom and Dad's flight has been delayed. They're arriving at 10 PM. We're going to be away from home, so we won't come back until around 10:30 to pick them up. Ice, you don't have to be here if you don't want to._

_-Akai and Aoiri_

"... Huh," Kuroki muttered, scratching the back of her neck. "Guess I didn't need to break it then." Tezuka glanced at her questioningly. Kuroki held up the handcuffs in response. The link in the middle was snapped.

"When did you do _that_?" Tezuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just now. With a wrench." She waved around a red wrench and added, "Specifically this wrench. I also could have done it the professional way and... like, dislocated my hand or something. But that would've hurt."

"In any case... It's unnecessary," Tezuka answered, unlocking the cuffs. "Go brush your teeth now."

"Yes, Captain," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes with a mock salute. She paused at the door and turned back.

"Hey... was I crying in my sleep or something?" she asked, touching her eyes. "Because my eyes are puffy..."

"It's fine, you had a nightmare," he replied, his back turned to her as he rummaged around his bag. He waved it off, adding, "Just go."

She frowned but obeyed, retreating to the bathroom. Tezuka licked the tip of his finger, turning around, catching her walking away from the corner of his eye.

"Still tastes salty..."

* * *

"She's fine, Suigo, she's only unconscious," Suigo's mother assured him. "We're going to keep Sayuki-chan home for today. No experiments or testing, we promise."

"Mom."

"I know you're worried about her, honey," she sighed, hugging her son. "We'll take care of her. Akai-chan and Aoiri-chan are coming over to help today too. She'll be fine."

"It's not that, Mom," Suigo protested, pushing his mother away. "How long does Sayuki have until this becomes a daily thing?" She glanced away from her son.

"Around four months... and the amnesia will become more permanent half a year from now."

Suigo took a deep, calming breath, then reopened his eyes with a determined expression on his face.

"Alright... Four months is enough. Don't worry Mom, we'll fix it..."

* * *

Kuroki set the plate down in front of Tezuka and slid into her own chair, raising her chopsticks to her mouth and chomping down on the food. They ate in somewhat awkward silence, this being their first time completely alone for a while.

They finished breakfast without having uttered a word yet, the clattering of their chopsticks onto their plates the only deafening noise in the silence. Well, Kuroki dropped her chopsticks. Tezuka neatly placed his on top and carried them over to the sink. Kuroki washed the dishes and handed them to Tezuka for him to dry.

She nearly broke a plate when Kakura crashed into her.

"Eep! Kakura, get out of the kitchen!" The weasel hung her head guiltily and obediently marched out of the room. Kuroki sighed and handed the last dish to Tezuka.

"You know what I just realized?" Kuroki asked with a groan.

"Hm?" Tezuka almost flinched when the monosyllabic reply automatically came out of his mouth. He glanced at Kuroki warily, remembering the events from the morning. Her expression didn't change when she went on to say:

"Because my sisters can't drive us, we have to walk to school."

"... Hah... But... Then wouldn't I know where you live?"

Kuroki stared at him.

"No way in hell am I carrying you there. It's like, three miles away." Tezuka turned his head towards the clock.

"... In that case, we are very, very late."

"Shit."

* * *

"So you came to my house?" Suigo crossed his arms, leaning on the door frame. "Sure... I can get my dad to drive us. Kuroki, where _do_ you live anyways?"

"I would tell you, but then my sisters would castrate me."

"... But you're a gi-"

"They'll find a way. And then they'd beat you black and blue until you get amnesia, so..." Kuroki trailed off, blinking at Suigo's sudden change from confused to scowling.

"Speaking of amnesia, Sayuki... But first," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder. "DAD! You're driving me to school today!"

"I am?"

"JUST GET IN THE CAR!" Suigo yelled.

"Okay!"

"Ah, stupid workaholic, scatter-brained about anything else dad," he grumbled, shaking his head. He glanced up at Kuroki and Tezuka and beamed. "He'll drive the car out in a few minutes. We won't be late. I'll tell you what my mom found out after school."

"M'kay," Kuroki replied. "Suigo, be a good kid and go get me a baseball bat, okay?"

"Why?" he asked. "You know I don't follow anybody's orders. I'm a rebel."

"I'll tell Ryo-ryo about _that_. He'll be really pissed at you." Kuroki simpered and Tezuka could almost visibly see the malicious aura she was radiating from the corner of his eye. "_Really_ pissed."

"Fine!" Suigo stormed inside the house and returned a few moments later with a metal bat. Kuroki blinked at him, pointing at the bat.

"Metal...?"

"It was the closest one I could find. Take it or leave it," Suigo grunted, shoving the bat at her.

"Dude, I want to knock him out, not give him a concussion!"

"Easy, just do this." Suigo flipped the bat and lightly hit Tezuka, who did _not_ see it coming, with the butt of the baseball bat. Kuroki yelped and rushed to catch him before he hit his head again on the pavement.

"Jeez, a little heads up before you go knocking people out," she complained, shifting her position so that Tezuka wasn't crushing her so much. Suigo stuck his tongue out, tossing the bat back inside the house without looking back. They both ignored the loud crash that followed.

"C'mon, it's not like _you_ were planning to warn him," he retorted, kicking the door shut. His dad's car pulled up and he rolled down the window, waving at the kids. "My dad's here, let's go."

"The least you could do is help carry the Ice Cube you knocked out, you know," Kuroki grumbled, dragging Tezuka over to the car. Suigo's dad, by now very used to his son and his antics, didn't so much as raise an eyebrow at the unconscious boy.

"I hope he wakes up by the time we get to the school," was all he had to say before he pressed down on the pedal.

"Dad, we didn't even buckle him in yet!"

"Oops, sorry!"

"Damn, I think he really _will_ end up with a concussion at this rate."

* * *

"Handcuffs are off?" Yukina asked, an eyebrow raised. Kuroki grinned and slid back into her usual seat.

"Both hands are ow right now though," she mumbled, digging through her bag for a pencil and her textbook. "What was our yesterday's homework again?"

"That and that," Yukina said, pointing out the papers as Kuroki flipped through her binder. "I know you bruised your left hand, but what's wrong with your right?"

"You try having handcuffs on for a day and not ending up with bruises around your wrist." Kuroki pulled out her homework and set it on the table. "Jesus... ow." She winced and shook out her left hand. "That _hurts_."

"You could do this, Eis Hande." Tezuka reached over and grabbed Kuroki's right hand and pressed it against her left. "Your hands are cold as always." He curled his fingers so that Kuroki's right hand was wrapped around the now purple bruise.

"Hey, hands off, Wurfel," Kuroki grumbled, shaking his hands off of her. "Mind your own business."

"I'm only getting into character," he responded simply, patting her awkwardly on her head. He turned to sit down and Kuroki turned, eye twitching, towards Yukina.

"That was the most disturbing thing ever."

"Tezuka-nya, what was that?" Eiji chimed in, eyes wide. "You just touched someone on your own accord!"

"When you're handcuffed to someone for a day, you don't think much of personal space anymore," Tezuka commented dryly.

"Hmm, sensei is late today," Oishi said worriedly. "I wonder if something happened?"

"Ahh, Oishi, I kept wanting to ask you." Eiji hugged his best friend and continued, "You wanted to go to a medical school, right-nya? Of course, I'm still happy to go to the same school as you but... what happened to that?" They all turned to stare at Oishi who smiled sadly at them.

"I... I wasn't accepted," he admitted. "And even if my parents are doctors, they're usually really busy so..."

"You know, Oishi, if you don't say these things there won't be anyone who can help you," Kuroki remarked, breaking the silence as she nonchalantly examined her fingernails. "Suigo's parents are doctors, and they don't specialize in one specific area so they're pretty well balanced. Daichi wants to be a doctor in the future too, so they're teaching him. You could, too, if you wanted to."

"Ee- really?" Oishi was startled. He didn't talk with Kuroki nearly as much as the others did, and here she was offering him a way to become a doctor so he could help everyone else.

"As those people on the internet would say, 'ya rly'," Kuroki grinned, looking up from her nails. "Should be no problem, neh?"

"Waaai, Oishi!"

"E-eiji, cho-king!"

"Someone get the kitty off the kid before I really have to call Sui's parents for an autopsy..."

* * *

"Hey Ryo-respect, I have this new fruit juice and-!"

"No."

* * *

"Sayuki-chan, are you awake?"

"Ah... Watanuki-san." Sayuki smiled as Suigo's mother walked into the room. "Sorry for troubling you all this time."

"It's no problem, dear," the woman sighed, smiling slightly. She patted Sayuki on the head. "You're like our daughter, you know? We understand that we can never replace your parents, but we still have to thank _you_ for filling in the role of a sibling for Suigo. That boy never matures."

"I'm sure he's already mature, he just doesn't want to show it," Sayuki laughed, leaning back in her bed. "Thought I'm not sure if that would count as maturity."

"Mm, yes, this morning he did seem rather grown up," his mother commented, sitting down on the corner of the bed. Sayuki shifted slightly as the bed dipped with her weight. "He's rather determined to help you, you know."

"... Yeah." Sayuki's eyes darted to the top of her dresser. "Watanuki-san, could you pass me that tin on the dresser?"

"Espresso pillows?" She raised an eyebrow but passed it to Sayuki anyways. The girl pried the case open and popped a bean-shaped chocolate into her mouth, snapping the box shut.

"It's our experiment to see how close to 'hyper' we can get me," Sayuki explained, biting down with a resounding crack. "Since... you know, when I'm hyper my eyes change back."

"If that's the case... Then it might just be time we need."

Sayuki blinked as Suigo's mother seemed to have a revelation.

"Yes...?"

"You see, almost everything that has a limit can have that limit stretched," she explained. "For example, if the limit is a rubber band and it snaps, you can tie it together with another broken rubber band to make its stretching limit farther. If we can stretch the amount of sugar you have to consume before you become hyper, then you would be able to eat more sugar without the fear of becoming hyper."

"And what about my eyes then? Wouldn't it be more difficult to reveal them then?" Sayuki glanced down at the espresso pillow tin in her hand, concerned.

"No..." Suigo's mother said slowly. "You see, there isn't exactly proof that sugar causes hyperactivity. It might be that it's simply your mentality that thinks you're going to become hyperactive, and thus you act accordingly. And you said that your eyes can change somewhat without you becoming completely hyper, correct?" Sayuki nodded and the woman continued on.

"If that's the case, then there may be a chance that it isn't your hyper activity that causes your eyes to change back, but the consumption of sugar..."

Sayuki caught on.

"So we stretch my limit of sugar before I become hyper... So my eyes can change back before I become hyper..."

"Indeed," the woman nodded. "But the problem is that we don't know if we should snap the limit, like the rubber band, for a quick fix, or if we should take it slowly and hope that we don't run out of time. It seems that every time your limit snaps and you become hyperactive, the time you have left before your fainting becoming a commonplace event shortens."

"But there's also the danger that if we try to take things slow, we'll run out of time anyways," Sayuki murmured quietly. "... Watanuki-san, thank you. I... I'm going to have to think this over by myself for a moment." The woman smiled and stood up obligingly.

"Before you kick me out, though," she said, pulling something out of her pocket. "A bubble blower. You used to love this when you were so much younger. I thought it might cheer you up. And it must get lonely and boring alone by yourself." Sayuki smiled a somewhat twisted smile, somewhat reluctant and bitter but still happy.

"Thank you..."

The door shut with a soft click.

"Rokkun used to play with bubbles..."

* * *

"Yo, Daichi, I was wondering if you wanted to try out this jui-"

"I'm busy."

* * *

Kuroki whimpered, a shiver running down her spine.

"What's wrong?" Yukina asked in her quiet way. Kuroki glanced around shiftily, then turned back to Yukina.

"I just got a really bad feeling that today is going to end up with someone dead. Or near dead."

"Is that someone you?"

"... Me or the Ice Cube, I think..."

"Anything else you want to say before I send you to the nurse's office for hallucinating strange feelings?"

"I have a sudden urge to set Suigo on fire."

* * *

"Kaze-"

The boy took one look at Suigo and walked away.

* * *

"Kuroki..." Yukina approached her friend, her thumb pointed over her shoulder at the door. "Gaichu wants to talk to you. Something to do about... Something."

"... You're specific," Kuroki muttered, rummaging around her backpack for a pencil.

"I forgot," Yukina admitted, taking her seat behind Kuroki. "It didn't sound too important though."

Kuroki gave Yukina a look.

"... Alright, so maybe she said it in an important-sounding tone," Yukina shrugged. "But it's the Gaichu. You can't expect her to say something that isn't important. To her. To you... you would probably punch someone over it, but you know. Actually, that might be it. She might want to talk to you over how you almost punched her yesterday." Kuroki groaned in exasperation, smacking her face with her hand as she listened to her friend continue to ramble.

"I'm not going." Yukina paused mid-word.

"Ah... okay."

"_Because_," Kuroki said, glaring at Yukina as if she had expected her friend to ask why, "I am not in the mood to deal with any pests today. So you can go instead."

"Mmm... huh?"

* * *

"Kaze."

"'Ai-i." Kaze didn't bother glancing down, staring straight at the Pocky he was somehow managing to balance on the tip of his tongue. With a flick, it fell down into his mouth and he bit down with a crunch.

"Wha ou eed?" he asked, covering his mouth to make sure he didn't spray crumbs everywhere.

"Sayuki's planning something with the Gaichu. I need your help to find out what."

There was a moment of silence as Kaze paused in his chewing.

"Do..." He winced and swallowed before continuing. "Do you think she'll end up hurting herself?" Daichi smiled bitterly.

"Knowing her?"

"... Yeah. I'll talk to her later today."

"Thanks." Daichi turned and slid open the door.

"Not for you," Kaze corrected, concentrating on the Pocky he was balancing on his finger. He snuck a glance at Daichi from the corner of his eye. "I'm worried about Sayuki. She takes priority over the three of us."

Daichi half-turned, making eye contact with Kaze over h is shoulder. There was a flicker of a smile on his face before he walked away.

"I know..."

* * *

"We told the Weasel Woman to come," Mayumi growled, her arms crossed firmly over her chest. "So why are you here?" Yukina gave her a patronizing look. She stifled a yawn and scratched the back of her head as if even she didn't know what she was doing here, so why bother asking?

"Nngh, this is so troublesome," she mumbled, slouching and staring at one of Mayumi's friend's shoelaces. "She's so annoying..."

Mayumi's eyebrow twitched dangerously.

"You call me annoying?" she said in a low tone, stretching to her full height so that she towered over Yukina. Yukina stopped scratching her head to glance at Mayumi from the corner of her eye.

"Hoo~ So you grew," she commented, straightening her back. Yukina was a good few inches taller than Mayumi, who stared at the now much taller girl in disbelief. Yukina patted Mayumi on the head, then brought her hand over so that it touched her forehead.

"You grew 3.6 cm since the cultural festival," Yukina decided, slumping back down with a content smirk on her face. "You're also a bit bigger round the waist, I'd say..." She wrapped her arms around Mayumi, who shrieked, and put her ear to her chest.

"1.5 cm... no, 2 cm more? Your chest didn't grow at all though."

Mayumi stood there with her mouth open. Yukina waved a hand in front of the girl's face, then shrugged and began to walk back into the classroom when she didn't respond.

"... Add Nakamura to the list..."

* * *

Kaze ruffled his hair as he stood up from the desk, the chair clattering. He rummaged around in his pocket and frowned when he couldn't find any Pocky.

_Emergency supply... oh, there we go_. He extracted a new box from his backpack and tore it open, flipping a Pocky into the air.

"Now then..." He pocketed the box and neatly caught the Pocky in his mouth. He glanced out the window and saw Gaichu Megami greeting her friends that had just gotten out of school. He bit down on the stick with a crunch, never letting his eyes stray away.

"Shall we begin...?"

* * *

"Are you nervous?"

Kuroki glanced at Tezuka from the corner of her eye. She turned back to the window, her hand resting on her chin.

"Not really," she answered dully, staring at the people walking out the school gates below. "Just didn't feel like fighting through the crowd to get out of school. I was planning to leave as soon as Suigo gets to the gates. I told him to call his dad to pick us up again."

"Hn," he mumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, following her line of sight out the window. He continued on before she could turn to scowl at him.

"I have tennis practice today... The others were also planning to go visit the middle school's tennis club to check up on them."

"Saa... In that case, I'll be going now." She stood up, the chair clattering. "I'll tell Suigo's dad to pick you up. Do you have a cell phone?" Tezuka shook his head.

"Take mine." She tossed her phone to him and he caught it in his left hand. "His number is in my contacts," she explained, pointing at the phone. "Call him when you plan to come back. He probably won't knock you out, just blind fold you or something, so you won't have to worry about a concussion."

"That is a nice change," he acknowledged. Kuroki half smiled and made her way to the classroom's door before pausing.

"Be back before dinner."

"Hn."

She glared at him over her shoulder before walking away with a content grin.

* * *

"Kaz, you can't ditch practice you know," Suigo drawled disinterestedly, arms folded behind his head. Kaze didn't pause and kept on walking.

"Kaze!" Daichi called. "I didn't mean now!"

"Daichi..." He stopped, planting his foot and turning around to stare at his best friends. "You know Sayuki. If we need to find something that she doesn't want us to find, she's going to do it while she knows we're not going to be here. So we have to be unpredictable, even if it means breaking the rules. Just tell Captian Kaidoh that I'm not feeling well..."

"That won't be necessary." Kaze faced forward, looking up at Kaidoh through half-lidded, tired and bored eyes.

"No matter what the problem with Saiki is, you are not allowed to skip practice," Kaidoh stated firmly. Kaze sighed, defeated, and kicked at the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

"Yes, Captain Kaidoh..." Kaze's eyes narrowed, staring at Suigo.

"Back to the courts, then," Momo grinned, calling from the benches. "C'mon!" Kaze and Kaidoh made their way toward the benches to grab their tennis rackets. Suigo waited till Daichi averted their attention and tiptoed toward the spot where Kaze had been standing. He stared at the ground, trying to make out the scratch marks Kaze had made with the heel of his shoe.

"_狐_...?"

* * *

Tezuka blinked and glanced down at his pocket when he felt something vibrating. He dug out Kuroki's cell phone and stared at the caller ID.

"Watanuki Suigo...?" After a brief moment of consideration, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Yo, Fox Lady... wait, what the hell happened to your voice? Did you suddenly get balls or something?"

"... This is Tezuka Kunimitsu..." He considered ending the call and his finger nearly hit the red button when Suigo continued.

"Oh, hey, Tezuka-san." He could practically hear Suigo blinking on the other end, trying to figure out why he would have Kuroki's phone. "Well, in any case, can you tell Kuroki to check up on Sayuki?"

"Ah... She just left school," Tezuka said, turning a corner. "I'm not sure where she is..."

"Why do you have her phone anyways?"

"I have tennis practice and I have to go to her house later, so she gave me her phone so I could call your father to pick me up," Tezuka explained. "I'm on my way to the tennis courts now. If it's nothing too important, I'm going to hang up."

"Ahhh! Wait! Could you send someone to tell Kuroki to go to my house? It's kind of important that she checks up on Sayuki now." Tezuka froze, slowly lowering the phone from his face.

"That... that won't be a problem."

"Hello? Tezuka-san? Hey!"

_Click_.

"You heard him. Go on."

She grinned and ran.

* * *

"Damn..." Suigo scratched his head and tossed his phone back into his bag. He turned back to grab his racket and flinched when he saw Ryoma tossing it from hand to hand, staring at him with cold eyes.

"You three..."

"Echizen, Watanuki, get back to the courts! I _will_ make you stay an extra hour if you don't start moving!"

"Yes..."

"Alright!"

* * *

"Kakura? … Okay. I got it. You head back first then. Find Akai and Aoiri. … Me?"

_Crack, pop._

"I have a best friend to spy on."

* * *

"Ah, Kuroki-chan, you're visiting?" Suigo's dad smiled, looking up at her from his newspaper at he sipped at a cup of coffee. She dipped her head and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry for intruding," she said, scratching the back of her head. "I just wanted to check up on Sayuki."

"It's no problem. She's in her room." Kuroki thanked him and started to head towards Sayuki's room when he stopped her.

"Am I going to send that boy to your house again?" he asked.

"Ah... yeah, he'll call you with my cell. Sorry for the bother."

"Not at all, I know how protective your sisters can be about keeping your house a secret," he chuckled, turning his gaze back to the news. "Tell your parents hi for me when they come back, alright?"

"M'kay!" She skipped out of the kitchen and ran towards Sayuki's room. She knocked on the door, pausing a moment for Sayuki's response, then scowled and shoved the door open when nothing happened.

"What the hell?" she snorted when she saw her best friend sprawled on the bed, blankets kicked to the side. "She's sleeping." Kuroki sighed and sat down, Sayuki blinking sleepily when the bed dipped from her weight.

"Kuro...?" Sayuki yawned, rubbing her eyes and stretching, joints cracking. "It's cold..."

"Then get under the blankets before falling asleep, genius," Kuroki grumbled, throwing the sheets at her. Still half-asleep, Sayuki merely blinked when they hit her face and fell into her lap.

"_When did you get here? You didn't tell me you were coming._" Kuroki blinked as a string of semi-intelligible gibberish came from Sayuki's mouth.

"Sayuki, we're in Japan... And you know I don't understand English anyways."

"_Huh?_" Sayuki stared at Kuroki blankly for a moment, then looked down at the blankets in her lap. "_We're in..._ oh. OH." She winced and shook her head, then groaned and put her head in her hands.

"Headache?" Kuroki murmured sympathetically, pressing her ice cold hands to her friend's forehead. "You could've caught a cold sleeping like that. Remember where we are now?"

"_Ye-_ yeah," Sayuki corrected herself. "Dunno why I slipped into America there... Must've been dreaming something from the past."

"You started out in Japanese though," Kuroki pointed out, pulling her hands back when Sayuki swept them away.

"Even in America, I commented on things to myself in Japanese," Sayuki growled out through clenched teeth, her eyes squeezed shut from the pain in her head. "Why did you come?"

"Daichi thinks you're going to do something stupid with the younger Gaichu," Kuroki answered as nonchalantly as she could. "And he wanted me to ask you what you're up to. But before I get to interrogate you... are you okay?"

"Fine," Sayuki lied. "Haven't had a headache like this since-" She broke off and feigned a pained grimace before Kuroki could question her about it.

"Need ice?"

"Your hands are fine." As slowly as she could, Sayuki lay back down, hands groping for her pillow. She shoved it under her head and relaxed with a sigh of relief. Half glaring, Kuroki pressed her fingers to Sayuki's forehead again.

"You sound like Eis when you say stuff like that," she grumbled.

"Speaking of Tezuka-senpai," Sayuki breathed, opening her eyes to stare at her friend, "are you ready to act in front of your parents? They won't be easy to fool, you know."

"They'd hardly know what's natural and unnatural for me, so I don't think it'd make a difference," Kuroki mumbled.

"Even if they hardly ever see you, they're still your parents." Sayuki closed her eyes and folded her hands over her stomach. "They know you."

"I'll be fine. You just get better before they come home, otherwise they'd start worrying over you like no tomorrow and your headache will only get worse." Sayuki almost laughed, then thought better of it when another jolt of pain went through her head. She allowed herself a grin.

"I can see that happening... So why does Daichi think I'm going to do something stupid?"

"Yesterday, he was suspicious of Ryoma because according to him, Ryoma never uses his locker," Kuroki explained slowly, trying to recall all the details she had gotten from Kakura. "So Daichi went back and found the girls that Ryoma had talked to... Apparently Ryoma had only told the girls to back off and stop the bullying and all that jazz, but they told him that they weren't going to do anything because _you_ had planned some sort of a game with the younger Gaichu. So." Kuroki rested her chin in hand, still holding her other hand to Sayuki's forehead.

"Daichi's not the only curious one. What are you planning?"

* * *

"Echizen, do you know?" Ryoma glanced at Daichi and shrugged, throwing a towel over his shoulder and sipping at his water bottle.

"No." He set the bottle down on the bench and turned his gaze up to the sky. "I'm going to ask her about it later." Daichi blinked, somewhat surprised.

"Doesn't sound like you _or_ her," he muttered, taking a seat next to Ryoma. "Usually she'd tell you, and usually you would trust her not to do anything idiotic and let her on her own."

"I do trust her," Ryoma answered, grabbing his racket and tossing it from hand to hand absently. "And I wasn't planning on asking her about it at first. But then I remembered about the pot-dropping incident and how scared she got..."

"You're rubbing off on her," Daichi commented dryly. "She wouldn't provoke people like that back then. She would bug them when she was trying to be friendly, but she wouldn't purposely make them angry." Ryoma snorted.

"Yeah, sounds like Sayuki." Ryoma glanced at Daichi from the corner of his eye as he heard a clatter.

"Well, I'm leaving for today," he murmured, cracking his neck. "You go visit Sayuki. I have some errands to run."

"... Sure."

* * *

"Sayuki."

"Kuroki."

"Tell me," the older girl whined, poking Sayuki relentlessly. "Or I'm taking my hand back. And then dragging you out and throwing you to the Gaichus."

"Great, then I can just start the plan earlier."

"You..." Kuroki groaned and withdrew her hand, facepalming and falling back onto the bed with a thump. "You're just _so_ stubborn sometimes."

"From the girl who kept poking me for an hour and a half just to get me to talk," Sayuki grinned, rotating her wrist. "Can we just drop this and talk about random crap?"

"Like back when I visited you in America?"

"Uh huh." Sayuki said up carefully, crisscrossing her legs and rubbing her temple with a hand. "I don't think Ryoma knows that I'm right handed."

"You're not right handed, though," Kuroki countered, examining her fingernails with boredom. "You play tennis with your left and I think that's all that matters to him."

"Heh, true," Sayuki admitted, resting her chin in hand. "I kinda miss playing badminton though."

"You've slaughtered enough birdies in your lifetime," Kuroki answered dryly. "Don't tell me you're thinking of going back to it?"

"Nah, just a thought."

"What do you mean you're not left handed?" Kuroki and Sayuki glanced up at Ryoma who stood in the doorway, blinking at them.

"Hey, Ryom-"

"PILLOW TO THE FACE!"

"... The hell?" Ryoma dropped the pillow on the floor and kicked absently at it.

"Huh, you're right," Kuroki commented, ignoring the looks of disbelief and confusion on her friends' faces. "It _is_ impossible to get something to hit him."

"_So_ immature," Ryoma sighed, reaching down to pick up the pillow. He tossed it back to Kuroki and dragged out a chair. "So Sayuki, you're right handed?"

"Depends," she shrugged, reaching over to her desk. He handed her the sketchbook and pencil and noted that she held the pencil in her right hand.

"I'm only lefty in tennis," she explained. "And in specific moments in cooking. Usually when it involves fire."

"PILLOW TO THE STOMACH!"

Ryoma caught it single-handedly and shoved it back at Kuroki without glancing away from Sayuki. Sayuki continued flipping through her sketchbook, searching for a blank page, not even bothering to look at her best friend.

Kuroki continued to juggle pillows, waiting for another moment to attack.

"My dad was the one who taught me tennis," Sayuki told him slowly, dragging the pencil over the paper. "And he was a southpaw. My mom played badminton and she was right handed. They never stopped arguing over which sport was better so they just taught me both. My dad started out with teaching me right handed, but it was too hard for him and I would keep getting badminton and tennis mixed up, so he just went ahead and taught me left-handed."

"Badminton and tennis are pretty different, I guess," Ryoma mused.

"Wa-aay different," Sayuki corrected, twirling the pencil around. She erased a line and the room fell into silence.

"So your dad knew how to coo-"

"PILLOW TO THE-"

"_Stop_," Ryoma and Sayuki groaned in unison. Sayuki pushed at Kuroki with her foot, trying to shove her off the bed. Ryoma stood up and simply pulled her off and took her spot.

"Dammit, Ryo-"

"I don't care."

"Yeah, my dad was the better cook," Sayuki grinned, ignoring the curses Kuroki was spouting. "My mom could set ice cubes on fire."

"You know, that would be a pretty useful skill," Kuroki muttered, rolling to her feet and dusting herself off. "I know some ice cubes that need melting."

"You mean like this one?" Ryoma plucked the sketchbook from Sayuki's hands and showed Kuroki the drawing.

"... What could possibly compel you to draw me and Eis holding hands?"

"Think of it as a form of revenge," Sayuki said simply, taking the book back. "And I will ink it and color it and show it to your parents. And you two will have to smile and nod along because you're supposed to be dating."

"Probably not _smile_," Ryoma added thoughtfully. "Since Captain Tezuka seems almost physically incapable of doing that. But the rest I can see happening."

"If you actually manage to finish doing all that before you meet my parents, I will A. be impressed, B. murder you, C. murder your boyfriend, and D..."

"There is no D, is there?"

"Should've thought _that_ one through."

"Way to sound lame."

"Shut up. Both of you. Just shut up."

"Hey, no murdering over there!" Suigo's dad's voice called. "We just cleaned last week and lemme tell ya, bloodstains are _not_ easy to get out of bedsheets!"

". . ."

"... You kids didn't need to know that, did you?"

"No, sir. No, we didn't."

"... Well, I'm off to go pick up Kuroki-chan's boyfriend! Kuroki-chan, do you need a ride home?"

"Since you're so kind enough to offer, I will accept and attempt not to strangle you for the boyfriend comment." Kuroki picked up her backpack and added, "Also, I really don't want to hear more stories about what happens up here."

"Well actually-" Sayuki grinned.

"NOT. A. WORD."

"Word."

"Ryoma, you are going to _die_."

"What did I say about murdering over there? And no gut-ripping either! Livers are even worse than bloodstains!"

"... ARGHH!"

* * *

Kuroki sighed as she let her bag drop to the floor, slipping out of her shoes. Tezuka shut the door behind them and bent down to pull off his shoes. Kuroki absently kicked at her bag, then picked it up by the strap with a foot. She hopped around and held it out expectantly at Tezuka, who barely raised an eyebrow.

"Carry your own bag," he said simply, walking past her without a second glance. Grumbling to herself, Kuroki shouldered the pack again and headed towards her room.

"Yo Eis, is Kakura back?" she yelled, leaping onto her bed. She carelessly tossed her backpack, grinning as it landed perfectly next to her desk.

"Not in the kitchen, at the very least," he answered, poking his head into her room. "Your sisters left a note on the table." He handed her the slip of paper and placed his bag next to the door.

"Ahh?" Kuroki grumbled. "They want me to make dinner? They're not _buying_? Damn them!" She crumpled up the note and tossed at the trash bin, scowling when it missed. Tezuka snatched it up and dropped it into the bin.

"The least they can do when Mom and Dad come back is make or buy dinner for them, the lazy asses," she muttered, rolling over onto her side. "... We have homework today, don't we?" Tezuka nodded, his back to her as he opened his bag.

"Ugh," Kuroki moaned, kicking at her pillow. "You think they'll let me skip school tomorrow?"

"I doubt your parents would. The homework isn't that much, in any case." Kuroki continued grumbling to herself anyways, climbing off the bed.

"Well, it's about time for me to start making dinner," she muttered, scratching the back of her head. "You go ahead and start homework or whatever."

"May I use your desk?"

"It's not like I'd say no, right?" she pointed out. She tugged a hair tie off her wrist, holding it between her teeth, and began putting her hair into a ponytail. "What ya want fo' dinna'?"

"Anything is fine," he replied automatically, organizing his papers and books on Kuroki's desk. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"We're havin' grilled eel then," she said, letting go of the band with a snap. Tezuka blinked and looked up in surprise.

"Ah... sure."

"Why, you don't like eel?" she asked, glancing back.

"It's fine."

"Whatever you say, boss..."

* * *

"Haha, no way, eel is your favorite food?" Kuroki grinned, chopsticks clenched between her teeth. "Man, I'm good."

"You're going to choke," Tezuka answered simply, popping another eel into his mouth.

"Yeah, whatever," she said, snatching an eel for herself. "In any case, they're really late..."

"They did say that the flight was delayed."

"Whatever." She glanced at the clock, then forcefully closed her eyes and concentrated on chewing.

"You're nervous?" Tezuka observed.

"Shaddup," she grunted, jabbing her chopsticks at him. "You would be too. Actually, you _should_ be. Are you really ready for this?"

"Don't point your chopsticks at people," was his only reply, brushing them away with a hand. "I'm perfectly fine. I've been through worse situations."

"Of course you have," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "Dammit, and Kakura's not back yet either... where is everyone?"

"Why, did ya miss me or what?"

Kuroki's eyes widened and she stood up, chopsticks clattering against the table, whirling around so quickly that Tezuka barely saw it happen.

"_You_...!"

_Grin._

"Yo, Kuro-baka."

* * *

_THERE. THERE. THERE IS THE CHAPTER. AND YOU HAVE READ IT._

_Significance of salt: "Salt suppresses bitterness, and is commonly added to chocolates, fruits, and desserts to intensify their sweetness."_

_The character found in the chapter reads as "kitsune" in Japanese, which means fox. Kuro Kitsune. ... Get it?_

_And yes, Sakka, that is who you think it is. SHE'S FINALLY HERE OMG I KNOW._

_Kuroki's parents are showing up in the next chapter. :D Just thought I'd let you know. And SCHOOL IS OVER IN FOUR MORE WEEKS OMG so I'll try to get updates before then but I can't guarantee it. But after school ends, I'll definitely try to pump out more chapters. 12 page chapters are a lot more painful than I thought when I made that my goal... xD_

_Well, if all goes according to plan, I'll have a nice surprise for you guys next week, so look forward to that? :D_

_Sankyuu all for your patience, I luvs y'all. :3  
_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)_

*yawn* Lol Kai. My school ends in two weeks beat that.

~Ryuu

P.S. Once I finish school and all my crap, I'm going on an update marathon. Might drag Kai into it. :]


	10. Chapter 7 and a Half: Christmas Special

_Lol wut?_

_Explanation for this in the author's note at the end... xD_

_FYI, takes place between the ending of FSC and the arrival of Kuroki's parents.  
_

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

Well this took a long time...

~Ryuu

* * *

**Christmas (Eve) Special (Chrispe? Krispy?)**  
_Time Frame: After FSC, Middle of ODL_

"Does she do this every year?" Ryoma deadpanned, sitting on the top step in front of his house. Kuroki, standing beside him, sighed good-naturedly as she tugged her gloves on.

"Whenever there's snow, yeah," she answered, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her coat for extra warmth. Her voice was muffled by the scarf around her neck. "It's not the first time she's seen it but... well, she's Sayuki," she finished lamely, for lack of a better word.

"An idiot," Ryoma offered in monotone.

"Yup." Kuroki shrugged. "An idiot. What can you do?"

"Stop her from running around in the snow with only a T-shirt, khaki cargo pants, and socks on before she catches a cold," Ryoma muttered, standing up and brushing the snow off of him.

"Man, wait till you see Suigo," Kuroki smirked. "You go drag her back in. I'm going back into your house, where it's nice and warm and has hot chocolate and warm cookies waiting to be eaten."

"Keep them away from Sayuki," Ryoma murmured, pausing momentarily to warm his hands with his breath. He heard Kuroki's snicker and the door slamming behind him, and he gave a resigned sigh as he walked down the steps to the crazy girl fascinated with the falling snow.

"Ryoma, Ryoma!" she laughed, running up to him in a fashion that was anything but graceful. "Loo- EEP!"

Sayuki tripped on an unseen object in the snow and fell flat on her face. Ryoma stared at the girl at his feet, struggling to remove the smirk from his face.

"What is it?" he asked, crouching down so he was level with her. She grinned and chucked a handful of snow at him. Reflexively, he held up a hand to block it, but the snow sprayed onto his face anyways. He blinked and Sayuki burst out into laughter.

"I finally got something to hit you!" she grinned, pointing at him.

"Great," he muttered, standing up and offering a hand to her. She accepted it and he flinched at the touch. He could feel the cold of her hand even through his gloves.

"C'mon, go inside and put on something warmer," he said, brushing some snow off her shoulder. "It's Christmas Eve, you don't want to get hypothermia do you?"

"Can I have your earmuffs then?" Sayuki asked, pointing at the red fluffy things on his head. He sighed and placed them on her ears. She grinned and they made their way back to the house.

"You know, we should get some eggnog," Sayuki mused, peeling off her socks as she entered the doorway. Ryoma glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

"What for?" he asked, wiping his shoes on the mat. She shrugged.

"We're having a party tonight, and I like eggnog," she answered simply. "And eggnog is for Christmas."

"Sugar?" he asked warily.

"Not enough to send me hyper," Sayuki giggled. "Kuroki's let me have it before."

"Sure, then," Ryoma shrugged, entering the kitchen. "When are the others getting here?"

"At six!" Sayuki yelled as she ran up the stairs. She swore with each step, making Ryoma smirk and Kuroki laugh. "Ow, fuck, dammit, the hell was I thinking! Fucking. Cold. Feet. HURT!"

"I warned you!" Kuroki called.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BOIL SOME WATER FOR ME, BITCH!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Negative?"

"Hell yeah," Kuroki muttered. "This'll be a fun three hours. Just wait till she comes back down, geared up and already hyper and un-negative off of snow, yelling-"

"C'mon guys, let's _go!_ It's _snowing_!"

"Great," Ryoma smirked. "I owe you for that snowball."

* * *

Kuroki's sisters arrived first.

By then, Kuroki, Sayuki, and Ryoma had already gone through three snowball fights, set up the house with mistletoe traps, finished making brownies and cookies (which Sayuki and Ryoma did _not_ help with; Sayuki turned out to be hopeless at baking despite being able to cook, and Ryoma just didn't belong in the kitchen), finished decorating the Christmas tree, and set up more traps for their unsuspecting visitors.

Nanjirou approved.

Ryoma's mother was considerably less enthusiastic about their traps, but conceded that her boy had to have inherited _some_ of his father's genes, and the mischief portion was the lesser of two evils. Nanako was out with a few friends; she wouldn't be back until noon the next day.

Ryoma's parents conveniently disappeared when the doorbell rang. The only bit that they wanted to know of the chaos that was sure to ensue was that the kids were going to clean it up. The kids were going to have no interference from them.

Kuroki rushed to open the door, smirking uncontrollably as she greeted her sisters. They looked at her oddly, probably suspecting a trick when-

"SNOWBALL TO THE FACE!"

_Pffhh. __**(Kai: I seriously don't know what sound a snowball makes shutup)**_

Akai and Aoiri gaped at the three younger kids, the snow falling from their face to the ground.

Sayuki and Kuroki burst out into uncontrollable laughter. Ryoma didn't look far behind.

Still gaping, and looking slightly silly as she did so, Akai bent down and scooped up a handful of snow. She passed it to Aoiri, who snapped her jaw shut and packed the snow into a ball.

"DIE!"

* * *

A snowball fight, a Suigo prank, a hyper Sayuki, and an Inui Juice later, everyone (consisting of the the former regulars, Kuroki and her sisters, Sayuki, Ryoma, Furei, and the Dai-Sui-Ka trio) had arrived and gotten pranked at least once.

Because of the male to female ratio, more often than not it was two guys caught under the mistletoe that Kuroki had so sneakily set up around the house. It had resulted in some... awkward moments. And it was in one of those awkward moments that Sayuki had thrown everyone outside for a giant snowball fight.

Which she lost. Spectacularly.

"Ryoma!" Sayuki whined, chucking a snowball halfheartedly at him. He dodged and tilted his head to the side.

"What?"

"We didn't get eggnog..."

She looked at Kuroki with the most pitiful puppy eyes she could muster.

"Fine," Kuroki groaned. "It's only seven, there should still be a few markets open."

"OKgreat Tezuka-senpai gowithher kaybye c'monguys let'sgoback inside!" Sayuki said hurriedly. Within a millisecond, the whole group minus Tezuka and Kuroki had disappeared inside the house. Kuroki blinked, still trying to comprehend what Sayuki had just said.

Tezuka frowned and stepped up to open the door when there was a _click_.

"Tezuka-senpai, I just locked the door," Sayuki's voice informed him from the other side. "And I'm not unlocking it until you and Kuroki come back with my eggnog."

"The hell Sayuki!" Kuroki demanded, banging on the door. "Unlock! Now!"

"Man, it's a good thing you guys figured out what I was saying faster than Kuroki did, otherwise we'd be out there where she could maim us."

"OPEN. THE. DOOR."

"Or you'll huff and you'll puff and you'll blow Ryoma's house in!" Sayuki sing songed. "And Suigo says, 'Not by the hair on my chinny-chin chin!'"

"Hey, why _my_ chin!" Suigo protested.

"Um... Because... You're the first pig to be eaten by the wolf," Sayuki answered.

"Has Suigo-kun ever tried Inui Juice?" Fuji mused. "It seems like it'd be an interesting experience for him."

"Okay, that's it," Kuroki grumbled. "Just walk away, Kuroki, just walk away... Pretend you don't know the crazy people..."

"Pretend you don't know the strange girl talking to herself," Tezuka replied in monotone. "Just walk away..."

"Shaddup."

* * *

"I don't even know what's so good about eggnog," Kuroki muttered into her scarf, her voice muffled. "Never had it."

"Neither have I," Tezuka answered. They stared at the aisles in front of them.

"So do you have any idea where the hell to start looking?" Kuroki asked. Tezuka shrugged and she stalked off, muttering under her breath something about how stubborn boys and their goddamn pride wouldn't let them ask for help even if they were hanging on the edge of a cliff. She returned a few moments later with a store assistant, who soon led them to the eggnog.

"I recommend this one," the woman smiled, handing them a carton.

"Thanks," Kuroki answered, taking it. The woman nodded and walked off as Kuroki grabbed a few more cartons.

"Wallet, wallet," she muttered, patting her pockets as she set the cartons down on the counter. The clerk checked the prices as Kuroki fumbled around.

"Thank you very much and have a nice day!" Kuroki blinked and glanced at Tezuka, who was already past the automatic sliding doors with the plastic bag in hand, putting his wallet back into his pocket.

"The hell did he get over there?" Kuroki grumbled, running after him. The attendant and clerk exchanged smiles.

"What an adorable couple," the attendant sighed.

"They look a little young to be buying alcoholic eggnog though," the clerk answered. He shrugged. "I must be getting older."

The attendant stared at him.

"That was alcoholic?"

"Yes...? Why?"

"I... don't think they're of legal age."

"... You don't think they'll sue, do you?"

* * *

"You didn't have to pay, you know," Kuroki said, tugging at the plastic bag. Both of them were holding onto it, since they both stubbornly refused to let the other carry the burden. Kuroki called him a chauvinist bastard; he retorted that he paid for it, he would carry it. Kuroki shot back that since he paid for he, _she_ should carry it, and so on and so forth.

Finally, after almost five minutes of bantering and bickering, he sighed, stopping in front of the house.

"Are you always this difficult?" he muttered, knocking on the door.

"Are you always so _you_?" she grumbled, kicking the door open. "SAYUKI! We're here with your damn eggnog!"

"Great!" Sayuki grinned, flying down the stairs. "Look up!"

Tezuka and Kuroki immediately turned their gaze upwards. And groaned.

"I fucking hate you," Kuroki growled, glaring at the innocent mistletoe dangling above their heads. She looked forward and gaped.

"Why the hell does Suigo have a hat with _mistletoe_ hanging from the front of it!" she demanded. Sayuki glanced back and watched as Ryoma chucked tennis balls at Suigo from a distance, trying to knock the idiotic hat off. No one was going near Suigo.

"Long story," Sayuki answered nonchalantly. "Anyways, gotta obey the rules of Christmas!"

"Like hell," Kuroki snarled, just as Tezuka answered, "As if."

"Too bad." They whirled around to face Kaze, who was standing outside, snow slowly piling on his shoulders. He tilted his head to the side innocently... and pushed.

Their lips had barely touched when Kuroki stepped forward, knocking Tezuka onto the floor to regain her balance. She pivoted and aimed a punch at Kaze, who caught her fist and soon had her twisted in a headlock.

Sayuki would've helped her best friend out of her predicament had she not been laughing hysterically on the ground. Ryoma chucked a tennis ball at Kaze, who let Kuroki go to catch it. Kaze tossed it back to Ryoma.

"I'm guessing that's the equivalent of a high five for tennis freaks and ice cubes who refuse to speak more than seven words a minute," Kuroki choked, regaining her breath. She held out a hand to Tezuka, who was still on the floor. "Sorry about that, I had to at least _try_ to get a punch in." She pulled him up and Sayuki looked like the smirk on her face could not be removed even if you tried to burn her face.

"Aoiri-san and Akai-san were kind enough as to hide in the corner with cameras to capture the moment," Fuji smiled, gesturing at the shadows. The sister leaped out, dancing away from their furious sibling.

"Eggnog!" Sayuki squealed, leaping for the plastic bag. Ryoma handed her a cup, knowing that she wouldn't be able to wait long enough to go to the kitchen to get one herself. He went to put the rest of the cartons in the fridge as she opened one and poured herself a cup.

"Is it good?" he asked, ignoring the chaos around him. Sayuki grinned and nodded enthusiastically. He smirked and leaned down, kissing her. When he pulled back, she laughed at the face he made.

"It tastes weird," he mumbled, licking his lips. "You go enjoy your eggnog. I'm going to make sure Momo-senpai doesn't break my house or anything."

"Me!" the older boy protested. "Why don't you tell that to Taka-san! That Suigo brat handed him a racket and now he's in BURNING!-mode in your kitchen."

"Dammit... I'll be there in a second!" Ryoma stood up and left for the kitchen.

"Don't die in there!" Sayuki called cheerfully, waving at his back as she poured herself another cup of eggnog.

"Thanks for your unending faith in my abilities..."

* * *

"_Lyyoomaa, I love you,_" Sayuki slurred happily, draping herself on Ryoma's shoulders. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, hands busy trying to pry Taka from his racket.

"Why are you speaking in English?" he asked, finally managing to break his senpai's iron girp with the help of everybody else.

"_Whuh?_" She blinked sleepily at him, then seemed to choke on something and ran off to the bathroom.

Somewhat concerned now, Ryoma turned to Kuroki.

"That's never happened before," Kuroki muttered. "She might just be having another side effect of her eyes or something... Do you think we should call Suigo's parents?" Ryoma shook his head.

"She's just acting... drunk."

"Can't think of why," she answered with a shrug. "Well, she's back. I'll go make sure your house isn't wrecked. You can deal with her."

"She's your best friend," he said, giving her a questioning look. "I'd think you'd care more about her."

"I know I can trust her to you," was her only reply. Kuroki walked off to clean up the mess Momo had made after pouring himself some eggnog and Ryoma nearly fell face first when Sayuki glomped him again.

"Sayuki," he sighed as patiently as he could, "what do you need?"

"_Love you, Lyoma_." She planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek and promptly went to collapse on the couch.

Then came the most terrifying, traumatizing, disturbing, horrifying...

Tezuka Kunimitsu, the former captain of the Seigaku tennis team, walked out of the kitchen with a wide, goofy grin, draped himself over Inui, and instantly began babbling about how proud he was of Seigaku and how he was honored to have such amazing friends and how THE WORLD IS A HAPPY PLACE AND I LOVE YOU ALL.

Inui turned to Tezuka with a school girl-like giggle and replied that he felt the same. The two giggled to each other until Inui stumbled and both of them crashed to the floor, only able to untangle themselves with the help of Eiji and Fuji. Normally, Oishi would have helped as well, but the responsible one was busy tap dancing on the kitchen counter and juggling plates.

Bewildered, Ryoma turned away from the kitchen and spotted Kaidoh and Momo having a very serious conversation about the probability that they had been lovers in a previous life but alien life forms from Pluto's moon had invaded their bodies and taken over their personalities. Taka was sobbing in a corner about how he was useless, and a strangely talkative Kaze was comforting him. Daichi lay on the floor having a spasm that was somewhat reminiscent of a seizure, except that he was laughing hysterically.

With his mind unable to process what was going on around him, Ryoma turned to the couch and saw something that resembled his normal life: Kuroki was tending to an unconscious Sayuki, who was giggling maniacally in her sleep. He couldn't find Akai or Aoiri, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the twins were hiding away and video taping the chaos.

Trying to sort through the madness around him, Ryoma set about trying to search for Furei and found him shivering underneath the kitchen sink, wrapped straightjacket-style in Eiji's coat. With chokes, sobs, and whimpers, the boy recounted the tale of how Eiji and Fuji had ambushed him from the shadows just as he had been going to the bathroom and stuffed the poor child underneath the sink. Ryoma took Furei upstairs to the bathroom so that he could take a shower and go to sleep without being disturbed by... everything that was going on in the Echizen house.

With Furei safely out of the way, Ryoma took a deep breath and turned to face the chaos head on.

"... Captain Tezuka, please put your shirt back on and get off the kitchen counter."

Tezuka beamed at Ryoma and pulled on his shirt, his head poking through an armhole and his arm through where his head should be and the other arm trapped underneath the fabric, struggling to find a hole that wasn't there. With his free hand, he pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose.

"What the hell is going on?" Ryoma muttered to himself, eye twitching as he took in the sight in front of him. It was far too horrifying for his mind to fully process without shutting down, and so he automatically averted his eyes towards the ceiling. Which turned out to be a bad idea.

"NYAN!"

Karupin and Eiji simultaneously leaped from the ceiling light and crashed into Ryoma, sending them into a ball of entangled limbs. They rolled until they hit the couch, jolting Sayuki awake and Kuroki out of her chair. Ryoma managed to extract himself from the bunch with a minimal amount of scratches.

"What the _hell_ is happening?" he groaned, clinging onto the couch for support. Kakura and Karupin both scampered away to join Furei where life was less chaotic and made more sense.

"I have no fucking clue," Kuroki answered, helping Sayuki into her seat again. "I need something to drink, I don't think I can handle this..."

"In the kitchen," he informed her. As she left, he wondered how his parents could stay asleep with the racket going on.

Ryoma wanted to kick the next puppy he saw, because when Kuroki came out of the kitchen, she was just as crazy as the rest.

"What did you drink?" he demanded, pushing her away from Sayuki. The two were trying to glomp each other and it was freaking him out.

A LOT.

"Eggnog, duh," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "Lemme go! SAYUKI!"

"_KURO~_"

"Egg..." Ryoma dropped the girls and let them tackle each other into the ground. He weaved between flying cake batter (how had Fuji-senpai gotten that?) and Inui swinging Tarzan style from a rope they had nailed into the ceiling (when _that_ had happened, Ryoma had no idea) and reached the kitchen, where he grabbed the nearest carton of eggnog he could find.

"... Contains _alcohol_?"

* * *

"... And that's why your son is drunk. Sorry. Could you please come and pick him up? I apologize for the inconvenience... No, it's fine. Not at all. Thank you."

With a sigh, Ryoma hung up the phone. Having just called the families of all of his friends, he collapsed on the couch, exhausted with dealing with the insanity around him. He opened an eye blearily when he felt the couch dip with another person's weight.

"What do you need, Sayuki?" he murmured, closing his eyes again. Even drunk, he trusted Sayuki not to disturb him too badly.

"_Everybody's mommies and daddies came to pick them up_," she informed him, still not switching back to Japanese. "_Now it's only me, Kuroki and her sisters, Mister Tezuka, Mister Fuji, Kaze, and you._"

"That was fast," he said, sitting up straight and blinking furiously. It seemed like a soda can had been shaken and exploded into a tornado which then left as soon as it was capable. Now the house was almost wholly deserted, though there were a few strangled strains of song coming from the kitchen, followed by a few hiccups and the sound of cups being slammed on the table.

"_No it wasn't_," Sayuki said nonchalantly, hopping off the couch. "_You've been asleep on there for half an hour. It's just about midnight, you know?_"

"Wha-" Ryoma climbed off of the couch and found that he felt sore, as if he really had been sleeping on it. "So are Captain Tezuka, Fuji-senpai, and Kaze going to leave?"

"_Fuji's on his way out the door, Kaze's staying the night, and Tezuka's parents are out at a party_," Sayuki shrugged. "_And Kuro and her sisters are staying too_."

"Wonderful," Ryoma muttered, staggering into the kitchen. "Nobody stayed to clean up..."

"_I'll help clean!_" Sayuki piped up helpfully. She followed him into the kitchen and promptly tripped over a spatula, knocking over a stack of oddly placed and precariously balanced plates. Ryoma barely managed to catch them before they hit the floor.

"How about you _don't_ do that and get the others into a bed while I clean up?" Ryoma suggested, gesturing to the pile of unconscious bodies lying on the tile floor.

"_Okay!_"

* * *

"... When I said _a_ bed, I didn't exactly mean one bed..."

"_You never specified_," Sayuki whined defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. Ryoma smiled despite his sigh and went to pull Tezuka's fist from Kuroki's mouth. It took a good five minutes, but he eventually got the three sleeping people untangled.

"Sayuki, what time is it?"

"_12:05! Let's go open our presents!_" The girl hopped up and down impatiently, then stumbled and collapsed on the overcrowded bed. Scratching his head, Ryoma dragged Sayuki off and dumped her on the couch near the Christmas tree.

"I'm going to open your presents if you don't wake up," he warned. She bolted up right, then groaned and slowly lay herself back down, holding her head in pain.

"_My head_ hurts," she moaned. "But don't you dare touch my presents."

"I guess the alcohol wore off," Ryoma muttered. "Here. This one's for you from Kuroki."

They opened their presents until they only had one left each: from each other. They grinned and counted down, tearing off the wrapping in unison. They looked at the gift they held in their hands and laughed together.

"Amazing..."

* * *

"99 bottles of sheep on the wall, 99 bottles of sheep... take one down, pass it around 98 bottles of sheep on the wall."

Tezuka cracked open an eye blearily. Kuroki lay beside him, her eyes wide open and staring vacantly at the ceiling while she continued to recite the strangled strains of her demented song. Kaze whacked her in his sleep.

"Either count sheep or sing 99 Bottles, don't do both," he grunted, his voice muffled from the pillow. Kuroki ignored him and kept rambling.

"Stop."

She shut her mouth and turned to Tezuka.

"Need to distract myself from headache."

"You're giving _me_ a headache," Kaze grumbled.

"What the hell was in that eggnog? It was worse than bastard Inui's Kurozu..."

"Alcohol. I think it was alcoholic eggnog," Tezuka answered, getting up slowly.

"Why alcohol?" the younger boy muttered. "What time is it?"

"No idea... just shut up and let me sleep."

"You shut up first," Kaze retorted. Kuroki blinked open an eye and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're very snarky when you're tired, aren't you?"

"Kakura, make your owner shut up before my headache gets worse."

"Hey- Kakura- wait, no! Stop it-"

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Tezuka sighed, climbing out of bed. "Please endeavor to keep the house intact."

"No promises," Kuroki warned. "Dammit, Kakura! Why are you listening to Kaze and not me? Kaze, call her off, call her off!"

"Will you shut up if I do?"

"DOES IT SOUND LIKE I WILL IF YOU DON'T?"

"I'm pretty sure you just killed all of our heads..."

* * *

Nanjirou buried his head under his pillow, while his wife beside him had given up completely on trying to go to sleep and was reading a magazine by the light of the lamp on the desk beside her.

"Those darn brats," Nanjirou snarled bitterly. "They're never going to go to sleep..."

"It's Christmas, what do you expect?" his wife answered curtly, turning a page. "They're only children."

"But why _my_ house?" he whined.

"You offered."

"They could've warned me that _this_ was coming, though," Nanjirou muttered, unable to retort.

"And don't think you're getting away with letting them in here before asking me," she answered, snapping the magazine shut and turning to give her husband a sharp stare. "There will be consequences."

Nanjirou whimpered, shrinking back into the bed and making a mental note that this was the worst Christmas ever, including that one time that he had met that one lady...

* * *

Tezuka paused at the living room door, then entered to find Sayuki and Ryoma still awake and quietly talking to each other next to the Christmas tree.

"Ah, Tezuka-senpai, you're awake," Sayuki grinned, giving a little wave. Tezuka gave her a brief nod in acknowledgment.

"Headache?" Ryoma asked, leaning back on his hands. Tezuka's small grimace told him all he needed to know.

"Who would've thought that you guys had gotten alcoholic eggnog by accident?" Sayuki sighed, tossing an empty gift box back and forth. "I guess whoever sold it to you thought you were older than you really are. Tezuka-senpai, you really do look mature for your age."

"Hn... I've been told that," he answered. "I see you've already opened your presents."

"Yep! You wanna open yours or do you want to wait till morning?"

"I'll wait," he said. "The other two are fighting in the room..."

"My head hurts too much to go break up the fight," Sayuki whined. She turned hopeful eyes to Ryoma, who sighed and stood up, wincing as his joints cracked.

"If I return with injuries, I blame you," he muttered, marching off into the dark room. Tezuka followed to ensure that nothing would break, leaving Sayuki beside the tree by herself.

She closed her eyes until the throbbing in her head subsided somewhat. She was used to headaches by now and could ignore them, but apparently hangovers were a bit different from your average headache.

She reached over and grabbed her present to Ryoma for a distraction: a new tennis racket and a canister of tennis balls. She popped a ball from the container and bounced it in her hand before picking up Ryoma's gift for her: a set of art coloring supplies, including markers, colored pencils, paints, and even crayons.

Sayuki had to smile at the subtle message he was sending. _Colors_.

She pulled out a marker and began to draw.

* * *

"Stop fighting," Ryoma growled, pulling Kuroki and Kaze apart. He pointed to Kaze and said, "You. Go sleep in my room."

Grumpily, Kaze grabbed a pillow and marched towards Ryoma's room, where he slammed and locked the door. Ryoma facepalmed, realizing that he had just gotten locked out of his own room.

"Lil' Ryo-ryo, you go stay in Sayuki's room then," Kuroki suggested. Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"You're willingly sharing a room and a bed with Captain Tezuka?"

"Wha- oh shit. On second thought, how about I-"

"Too late," Ryoma smirked, sticking out his tongue mockingly. "You two have fun." He shut the door behind him, leaving Tezuka staring at Kuroki.

"... My bad," she muttered.

* * *

"Sayuki, I'll be staying in your room tonight," Ryoma whispered as he entered the living room. She nodded and raised a hand to show that she had heard.

"Okay, done!" she said cheerfully. "Catch!" She tossed the tennis ball she had been doodling on at Ryoma, who caught it without batting an eye. He looked at it and saw that she had drawn a small blue dragon breathing fire while surrounded by snow.

"Not only did you get me an unoriginal present, you draw a completely unrelated picture?" Ryoma asked teasingly. Sayuki pouted and threw his presents at him while gathering up her own.

"Even after all this, you're still the little arrogant prince of tennis," she grumbled, following him towards her room. "And it's not like anybody else got you the same thing. And my picture makes _sense_, you just don't get it because your head is dumb for anything other than tennis."

"Enlighten me," Ryoma answered, dropping his presents on her desk. She left hers on the bed before hopping onto it.

"The dragon is you," she said. He raised an eyebrow.

"How do you figure that?"

"If you take your name and translate it into Chinese, it would become Long Ma," she explained. "The 'Long' part of your name means dragon, and the 'Ma' can be written as horse."

"And the snow?"

Sayuki stared at him.

"How much do I need to spell out for you?"

"I know, it was a joke," Ryoma smiled. He poked at her and added teasingly, "How could I not figure it out, Sa 'Yuki'-chan?"

"You suck."

"Sure I do."

"No, really. You're terrible."

"Of course I am," Ryoma rolled his eyes. Sayuki grinned and flicked his forehead.

"But it's fine, because I'm in love with a terrible person."

* * *

"I now know how Sayuki feels every time she gets a headache from overusing her eyes," Kuroki moaned, rubbing desperately at her temples. "Stupid Kaze..." With her eyes still screwed shut, she started slowly making her way over to the bed when she tripped over a stray blanket.

"Eep!"

Tezuka grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," she stammered, slowly sitting down on the bed. "This headache is going to screw me over... Thanks, by the way."

"Hn..." He sat down next to her and lay back, closing his eyes. His memory of what had happened before he had fell unconscious was blurry and scattered, with small fragments of barely recognizable scenes that terrified him. He supposed that he would rather live with this fragmented memory rather than learn what had actually happened.

"When we leave this house, nothing that happened here will ever be told outside of this group," Kuroki muttered.

"You remember what happened?"

"Unfortunately. And I suppose you were lucky enough to forget."

"Yes..."

Kuroki let out a sigh.

"Lesson learned: never drink eggnog..."

**~Chrispe End~**

* * *

_Er... so yeah._

_Yesterday was my birthday and I wanted to post this yesterday for a birthday gift to you guys (IT MAKES SENSE IF YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT IT) but I was busy and didn't get to finish it. As you can tell, it's kind of rushed at the end... because I wanted to post this ASAP. If I ever get the time to, I might finish this up with a mini-sequel like I did with the Halloween special, but for now, I hope you guys are satisfied with this._

_In any case... did you like drunk Tezuka? xD_

_And yeah, I did post this 5 months late. BECAUSE I CAN DO THAT..._

_Because I was working on this, I haven't gotten started on the next chapter of the actual storyline... Sorry about that. But school is out in only a few more weeks, so if you guys are patient, summer break will come and I'll get more time to update. :D_

_Thanks for sticking with me so far you guys!_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


	11. Chapter 8

_**panting like I just sprinted a mile**_

_YOU GUYS I'M ALIVE I'M NOT DEAD HERE'S YOUR UPDATE_

**_dies_**

_Enjoy!_

_-Kai_

_(PS: the editor on Fanfiction was being really stoopeed so I apologize in advance for any typos you find in here. Also, I wanted to post this chapter for you guys ASAP so I kinda fluffed up my editing. xD SORRY YOU GUYS!)_

So...It's the eighth chapter now. xP Kai is going to take a mini break from ODL writing. I don't want her muse for this story to diminish. So please bare with us for the next few weeks.

~Ryuu

* * *

"_Fuck! _Misa-ho, the _hell _are you doing here?" Kuroki hissed through clenched teeth. Tezuka continued to eat, watching the scene with interest.

The new girl looked about their age, around the same height and body build as Kuroki. Her side bangs were swept over her right eye. Her shoulder length black hair was half up, half down, a lopsided helmet on her head. The hair tucked behind her ear revealed three piercings on her right ear.

**"**Fuck you, Weasel Woman," she growled through gritted teeth, pointing her middle finger at Kuroki. "S'not like I'm here cuz I fuckin' _want _to be."

**"**I see you still can't put down your skateboard without throwing a fit," Kuroki commented dryly, nodding at the flame-designed skateboard in the girl's hand. She crossed her arms and continued, "And are you ever going to dress like a girl?" The girl looked down at her clothes, a black, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, dark grey capris with chains hanging in the belt loops, and high top converse boots, and glowered at Kuroki.

**"**The hell ya talkin' 'bout? These are fine. And I _like_ my skateboard, so go fuck yerself." The girl grinned wolfishly and dropped the board, rolling it back and forth with a foot.

**"**But yanno, Kuro-baka, never thought ya'd get a boyfrien' _and _invite him to yer house so soon."

Kuroki glanced back at Tezuka as if just remembering he was in the same room as them. Heaving a huge sigh and doing her best to ignore the girl's insults, Kuroki turned to him and introduced them.

**"**Te-... Kunimitsu-kun," she almost grimaced when the name came out of her mouth; he did his best to keep a straight face, "this... _girl_, in the broadest use of the term, is Kuyu Misaki. She's Sayuki's cousin, from her mother's side. Tommy, this be Tezuka Kunimitsu. _Yes,_he is my boyfriend. I only brought him here to let him meet Mom and Dad."

**"**First of all, Wea-wea," Misaki scowled, kicking the skateboard back into her hand, "I'm a fuckin' girl no matter what ya say. Secondly, _don't fuckin' call me Tommy_. And yer parents are gonna flip when they see this guy. They're unloading their shit from Aka-san and Ao-san's car now."

**"**Well, _Tommy_," Kuroki said with savage glee, "you're a tomboy so I'm going to keep calling you Tommy. Wea-wea is unacceptable. And I know my parents are here, but I repeat: _why the hell are you here?_**" **Misaki opened her mouth to answer when Tezuka cut in.

**"**... Why is there a Chihuahua in the room?"

Misaki's face instantly began fixing Tezuka with an icy stare, while Kuroki remained flabbergasted for all of three seconds before she began cracking up.

**"**Oh my- _Chihuahua?_That's GENIUS! Why didn't of think of that myself?" Kuroki wiped away a tear and slowly began to sober up. "Aha... 'Chihuahua'..."

**"**I'll forgive ya fer your ignorance just this once, 'kay?" Misaki clicked her tongue and crouched down, holding her arms out to the animal. It hopped into her arms and clambered onto her shoulder as she straightening up, struggling not to glare at Tezuka. "Kyubi here ain't a Chihuahua, or a dog at all. He's a Fennec Fox-"

**"**Rodent!" Kuroki coughed. Misaki's eye twitched dangerously, and she looked very close to howling at Kuroki. Instead, she unclasped the spiked collar from the small fox's neck and chucked it at Kuroki.

**"**Ow," Kuroki growled as she batted the collar away with her left, injured, hand. "Oh c'mon, you freaking pierced the thing's ear! That's animal cruelty! _And _you dyed his tail red." Sure enough, hanging from the fox's over-sized right ear was a teardrop shaped earring, and a streak of bright red ran through his tail.

**"**I wouldn't have done it if it hurt lil' Kyubi," Misaki snorted, petting the fox. "And the red's _natural_, I told ya already."

**"**Yeah, and this guy never shuts up," Kuroki shot back sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she jabbed a thumb at Tezuka.

**"**Really? He's been pretty quiet, I think."

**"**It's called _sarcasm_, Mis-aho, get used to it." Misaki blinked at the both of them, Kyubi dropping down to the floor and staring up at his owner.

**"**Yer marryin' a silent one?"

**"**OUR DARLING KUROKI IS GETTING MARRIED?"

**"**Fuck you, Chihuahua Girl. Just _fuck you_."

* * *

"I'd much rather not, you know."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow and stubbornly shoved the spoon full of mash in front of her face anyways.

With a defeated sigh, Sayuki leaned forward and gulped the mash down. She made a face and coughed a few times before groaning and falling back down, her head hitting her pillow.

**"**Suigo's mom's mash sucks."

**"**It's healthy," Ryoma shrugged, putting the empty bowl on the desk before walking back to Sayuki's bed. "Get some sleep and lose the headache."

**"**Mm... tomorrow's probably gonna be busy," she said drowsily, blinding reaching for Ryoma. He took her hand and sat down on the bed, watching her struggle to fall asleep.

**"**Kuro's parent's are probably going to come visit," she murmured, her voice getting quieter with each word. He waited until she stopped mumbling and her breaths became deep and even before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

Carefully, he pulled his hand from hers, still holding his hand even though it was limp, and shut the door as quietly as he could.

**"**She asleep?" a voice whispered behind him.

Ryoma whirled around to face Suigo. He nodded and Suigo walked Ryoma to the door.

**"**Definitely come visit tomorrow," Suigo said as Ryoma slipped his shoes on. He said goodbye to Suigo's parents and stepped out of the house. "Kuroki's parents are going to see Sayuki, for sure. They're probably going to shower presents on her like no tomorrow, so you'd better be around to make sure she doesn't get a headache or anything."

**"**Yeah, sure," Ryoma said. He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "When can Sayuki move out of your house?"

**"**My parents said at most, she'll stay till the end of this week," Suigo grinned, raising an eyebrow at Ryoma knowingly. "It's not like they can keep her here forever, and they can't do much to stop the fainting and temporary amnesia, so they're gonna finish up the last of their research and send her back. It'll be over in no time, promise."

**"**Uh huh." Ryoma turned, ignoring Suigo's smirk.

**"**I mean it!" Suigo called at Ryoma's back. "Kuroki's parents are hella crazy so they'll keep you busy! I mean, they had _three_ hell spawn! _Three!_ Can you even imagine what they're like?"

Ryoma simply raised a hand in goodbye and kept walking.

**"**Smug, calm bastard..."

* * *

"Mom."

**"**Ohmigosh, Kuroki, darling! Why didn't you tell us you were planning to _marry_ this man? I mean, we knew you had a boyfriend but we wanted to be prepared when this happened and-"

**"**Mom."

**"**-Dear, when is it happening? Or have you not planned that yet? Oh, your wedding must be absolutely gorgeous! We promise to give you a grander wedding than even both Akai and Aoiri's put together-"

**"**Favoritism," the twins muttered in unison.

**"**-and you have to think about the location, dear, location is very important. Do you want it indoors or outdoors? Oo! And you also need a fitting theme-"

**"**_Mom._**"**

**"**-was thinking perhaps white or cherry blossoms or rainbows-"

**"**Your mother is right, you know. You need to tell us about these things-"

**"**_DAD!_**"**

**"**Kokoro-san, I was just jokin' about Kuro thinkin' 'bout marriage," Misaki cut in before Kuroki's parents could respond. Kuroki glared at the girl, who only sneered back at her.

**"**But the part about the ice cube?" Kuroki's dad asked. "Was that true?" Kuroki hesitated and began to answer when Tezuka did it for her.

**"**Kokoro-san, I'm not quite sure why they refer to me as an ice cube," he said with a deep nod, "but I am pleased to meet you and I hope that you will forgive me for dating your daughter without permission." Kuroki's father nodded as if satisfied.

**"**He's an ice cube."

Tezuka raised an eyebrow.

**"**But ice cubes are responsible people, so I won't have to worry about anything happening to my daughter," the man continued with a grin, adjusting the glasses on his face. It was easy to see the resemblance between him and Kuroki. They had the same face shape, along with similar eyes and nose. Kuroki's hair was inherited from her mother, though, since her father's hair was somewhat curly. He was taller than Tezuka by about half a head, while Kuroki's mother was half a head shorter than Tezuka. Their eyes were both a deep brown, but the father's were more calm while the mother's were sparkling with enthusiasm and cheeriness..

Kuroki folded her arms across her chest defiantly and rolled her eyes.

**"**Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Tezuka Kunimitsu," she said, nodding over to Tezuka. "T-... Kunimitsu-kun, these are my parents, Kokoro Kin and Kokoro Gin. You can call them by their first names if you want."

**"**Nice to meet you," Gin smiled. He shook hands with Tezuka, who was eying Kin warily. She was staring at him as if seeing him for the first time.

**"**... Kuroki," he began, blanking out on what name to call his supposed girlfriend for a moment, "your mother is staring at me..."

**"**OH MY GOD YOU'RE TOO CUTE!"

**"**... Mom, get off my boyfriend... you're choking him."

**"**Now, Dear," Gin said soothingly, pulling his wife off of the teen, "don't hurt him. You'll be able to see more of him. After all, he's little Kuroki's boyfriend."

Kuroki, the twins, and Misaki all clapped their hands over their ears. Tezuka did the same, not quite sure what they were trying to block out, but definitely not wanting to find out.

Despite covering their ears, they all flinched as they heard Kin squeal in such a high pitch that fangirls would be envious. When it was over, they could only stare in amazement at Gin, who had stood the closest to the woman and hadn't even batted an eyelid at the shriek.

**"**Kuroki, you did well in picking a boyfriend!" she giggled, hugging her daughter to her chest. "Now all we have to do is wait till Akai and Aoiri actually get married and then you and Tezuka-kun can get married after high school and we'll all be ready and happy and one big happy family and Sayuki-chan and her boyfriend can get married too and- Oh right!" She pushed Kuroki away to look at her daughter in the eyes.

**"**What's Sayuki-chan's boyfriend like? Is he as adorable as Tezuka-kun? Oh, I bet he is and they'll be together forever for sure, and then when everybody is all happily married we just have to wait until Misaki-chan finally loses her tomboyishness-"

Kuroki smirked at said tomboy and mouthed, **"**_Kuroki: 1, Misaki: 0."_Misaki glared back and stuck her tongue out at her.

**"**-and then she'll have her boyfriend and then they'll get married and-"

**"**Um... pardon me, but I'm afraid that it's very late now and I'll have to return home," Tezuka interrupted hesitantly, his manners not wanting him to break in so rudely. He knew that if she wasn't stopped, though, Kin would probably never stop talking.

**"**Oh, of course dear," she smiled at him. "Aoiri, be a dear and send him home. Akai, go with your sister to make sure she doesn't crash into any telephone poles."

**"**Yes, Mother," they chimed in together, grabbing Tezuka on either shoulder and dragging him out the door. Gin and Kin waved at him while Kuroki simply watched them leave, a half-smirk, half-grimace on her face.

**"**So, _Misaki-chan_," Kuroki said when the trio was a good distance away. Gin and Kin exchanged glances and sighed in unison, leaving the room. They knew that the girls weren't going to be friendly with each other, and when they started fighting, they never stopped.

**"**I'll ask you again. Why are you here?"

**"**Came to visit Sakkun. S'not like my school's very far from here anyways," Misaki answered nonchalantly.

**"**Last time. Why are you _here_in my _house_?"

**"**Well, Sakkun doesn't exactly have a fucking place to live, does she?" Misaki turned to face Kuroki, a hand on her hip and the other holding her skateboard. Kyubi hopped onto her shoulder, purring contentedly and ignoring the tension in the room. "She's livin' with her boyfriend, or rather, Sui-kun right now. Yer parents said I could move in with you guys."

**"**They what," Kuroki said in monotone, facing Misaki. "They _what_."

**"**I'm movin' ta live with ya until yer parents decide to take off again."

**"**... Kakura, come in here and bring me a knife. A very sharp one."

The weasel chattered questioningly.

**"**I'm going to kill this bitch. Or myself. Whichever comes first, because I sure as hell am _not_ living with Misa-ho."

**"**_Wea-wea_," Misaki growled.

"Tommy," Kuroki snarled back.

**"**Kuro-baka!"

**"**Mis-aho!"

**"**Weasel Woman!"

"You have a fucking sorry excuse for a fox as a pet! It's like a rodent! No wait; _it's a Chihuahua_."

**"**Hey, ya better fuckin' take that back! S'not like yer pet's any better!"

**"**Sorry, I couldn't understand what you were saying what with _yer accent n' all_."

**"**I used ta live in Osaka! The fuck do ya want me ta do 'bout it?"

Kyubi hopped off her owner's shoulder and padded his way over to Kakura. They gave each other a greeting nod and turned to their arguing owners.

**'**_It's been a while_,**' **the weasel chattered.

**'**_It has_,' Kyubi agreed. **'**_But those foolish humans will never stop arguing, will they?_**''**

**'**_Of course not_,' Kakura answered. She sighed and examined a paw.

**'**_... We should probably stop them before they start throwing things, shouldn't we.'_

**'**_Probably. I'd say we still have a little bit more time before that happens.'_

Crash.

**'**_I stand corrected.'_

* * *

"_Mo-om_, why does she have to stay with _us_?" Kuroki whined, jabbing a finger at Misaki. The tomboyish girl scowled at Kuroki and stuck her tongue out at her.

**"**Misaki doesn't know anybody else on this side of the city, dear," Kin explained gently. "And Sayuki doesn't have a place to stay where Misaki-chan would be welcome."

**"**We could let her live on the streets."

**"**_Hey!_**"**

**"**It's not like you wouldn't fit in," Kuroki mumbled, but she finally let the subject drop. "I'm going to sleep, since unlike _some_ slackers, I have school tomorrow."

**"**I told ya, our school's on fucking break!"

**"**Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't follow me into my room. You're sleeping on the couch."

**"**Oh, fuck you. Since when can you order me around? I am _not_ sleeping on the shitty couch." She folded her arms across her chest defiantly, kicking her skateboard at Kuroki, who yelped and nearly tripped when trying to dodge it.

**"**The hell was that for?"

**"**Yer a terrible host."

**"**I'm not your host, bitch. You're just a free loader."

**"**Oh, believe me, I'd leave if it weren't free."

**"**Take your skateboard back, bitch."

**"**Fuck, I think I should actually just go an' live in a hotel, s'not like it could get much worse than stayin' in the same place as you, Wea-wea."

"I will break your face."

**"**I'd like ta see ya try."

* * *

Sayuki closed her eyes, exhaling slightly, her hand automatically moving to grab her cell phone. She kept her eyes half-lidded as she read her text from Kuroki, her fingers flying across the keypad as she typed a reply.

She tossed the phone back onto her desk and rolled over on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was so much to think about that her thoughts were no longer coherent, and all her problems started merging together. In the end, they all came down to one thing: her eyes.

**"**So... Misaki-chi came with Kin-san and Gin-san," she murmured, watching her hands as they slowly clenched into a fist, then suddenly relaxed. She snorted and rolled back onto her stomach.

**"**Kuroki must be having fun, then..." Her brow furrowed and she sat up, kicking the sheets tangled around her legs to the end of the bed.

**"**Should I... try calling Caroline?"

* * *

"Ryoma!"

The boy paused at the school's gate and turned around to see Sayuki running cheerfully towards him. He answered with a half-smile and a wave, waiting for her to catch up to him.

"Did you hear that I'm moving back soon?" she grinned, panting in between words as she tried to catch her breath.

"Yeah," he answered as they continued on their way to school. "I moved some stuff around in your room."

"Bastard!" she protested, playfully punching him on the arm. "Ask permission first. Did your parents never teach you manners?"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"... Right, your dad..."

"Just the giant dog," he answered. "Karupin never gets tired of attacking it."

"You better not have touched my candy," Sayuki grumbled, slipping her feet into her indoor shoes and placing her outdoor shoes in her locker. "I'm saving that for whenever we end up trapped in my room because your dad or Kuroki or someone else did something retarded and we have to survive off of that."

"Oh," came Ryoma's reply. "Probably shouldn't have swiped this then." He tossed her a stick of Hi-Chew and playfully stuck his tongue out.

"You didn't eat any of my stuff, did you?" Sayuki asked, already ripping the stick open. She tore off the silver wrapping and popped the strawberry flavored candy into her mouth. "Whatever, you can have one." He took one with a grunt of acknowledgment and they headed off towards their class.

On their way, Sayuki caught sight of one of Megami's friends. The girl glared at her, but Sayuki twitched her fingers and jerked her head towards the back of the school, silently mouthing _lunch_ as she passed by. The girl blinked her acknowledgment and kept on walking.

"Sayuki..." Ryoma murmured. She snapped her head towards Ryoma, silently praying that he hadn't noticed. He repressed a sigh and shook his head.

"_They've_ caught on too, you know," he told her. He ruffled her hair and kissed her before entering the class. Sayuki blinked after him and groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Too many people getting involved," she muttered, stepping into the classroom.

* * *

Kuroki could barely form a sentence for all the disgust and annoyance she felt. It didn't matter, though, because her face expressed her feelings clearly enough.

"... I believe that she would like to know why you are here," Tezuka explained, glancing at Kuroki from the corner of his eye. He turned back to Misaki, who was standing on her skateboard, Kyubi perched on her shoulder, and arms crossed defiantly.

In front of their school.

"Her parents wanted me ta come see how she was doin'," she growled, stepping off the skateboard. "S'not like I wanted to fuckin' be here, and the guys wouldn't let me in until class ended cuz I'm not a student." She sniffed and looked up at the building.

"Yer school's not much, is it?"

"This is the school that Sayuki's going to be going to," Kuroki answered, raising an eyebrow. "And Te- Kunimitsu-kun has to go to tennis practice now, so you should run along before it's just me and you left."

"Nah, I think if we blew this place up, they'd have to remodel this shit so that Sakkun could go to a more fuckin' awesome school," Misaki grinned. "So I'ma stay here till I piss you off or you piss me off so we can fuckin' destroy."

Kyubi purred, shaking his head at his owner, and hopped off her shoulder to search for Kakura. Or at least more sane company.

"Tezuka, we should be going." Kuroki and Tezuka turned around simultaneously to see Fuji smiling at them, then tilting his head in slight confusion at Misaki.

"And who would this be...?"

"Why the fuck are yer eyes closed?"

Fuji tilted his head in the other direction.

"Fuji-senpai has magical powers." Sayuki waved cheerfully at her senpai as they all turned towards her. "Also, he's blind."

"... Oh." Misaki gave Fuji a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"He's not blind, Mis-aho," Kuroki answered, rolling her eyes. "He just has narrow eyes. And smiles too much. With his eyes closed."

"Whatever," Misaki grumbled, waving it off. "If Sakkun says he's blind, he's fuckin' blind. Go and play yer tennis or whatever."

Tezuka and Fuji exchanged glances and took the chance to leave.

"In any case..."

Kuroki left and ducked for cover, clapping her hands over her ears.

"SAKKUN!" Misaki grinned as wide as her mouth could go and smacked a hand on top of Sayuki's head, mussing her hair violently. "It's been forever! How've ya been?"

"Fine," Sayuki said with a smile, patiently putting her hair back into place and ignoring the headache that started where Misaki had been ruffling her hair. "How about you, Misaki-chi?"

"Suckish. Three guesses as to why."

"My best friend, Kuroki, and the owner of the European Pine Marten named Kakura."

"Pin-pon, all correct!"

"Tommy, I _will_ go over there and murder you. And then I will take your dead corpse and revive it and then kill it so hard that you go straight to the last level of Hell and immediately reincarnate into a weed so that I can take a weed killer and destroy you into oblivion. And then I will dance on your grave when no one is looking."

"Yer best friend is hella violent, yanno that?"

"Misaki-chi, I think that goes for you too... Now please stop trying to strangle her."

* * *

"You know, this really sucks," Sayuki muttered, slouching with her tennis racket dangling from her fingers. Ryoma looked at her questioningly as he took his place next to her on the bench and grabbed his water bottle.

**"'**Cause, it's like I don't really like practicing basic moves, but it's really boring just sitting here and watching you guys play," Sayuki whined.

**"**Nobody's telling you not to play," Ryoma pointed out, setting down the bottle and adjusting his cap.

**"**Wouldn't be able to go all out otherwise," Sayuki answered with a somewhat bitter grin. She began to say something, then suddenly stopped, blinking slowly as if remembering something.

**"**What's up?"

**"**I... uh... left Misaki-chi with Kuroki."

**"**Who?"

Sayuki let out an exasperated sigh as Kaidoh called for the practice to end.

**"**You'll see..."

* * *

When Ryoma and Sayuki arrived at the high school, they found Kuroki, Tezuka, Misaki, and Fuji walking out the gates with Kuroki and Misaki standing as far away as they could from each other. Apparently they had gotten into an huge argument and were now giving each other the silent treatment. Tezuka seemed somewhat grateful and Fuji was still smiling, apparently only tagging along for the amusement.

The silence was short lived though.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow as Sayuki began to wince.

"YOU!"

Sayuki's hand immediately smacked her forehead, Tezuka looked away, biting his tongue, and Fuji simply chuckled. Ryoma felt extremely confused, especially by the fox and weasel leaping towards Sayuki.

"C'mon, Ryoma," Sayuki sighed, tugging at his sleeve. "This will take a while."

"...Do they always do that?" he asked, pointing at the arguing pair, allowing himself to be pulled away.

"Yes... Yes, they do."

The couple simultaneously flinched as they heard a window break.

"... I see." Ryoma glanced back over his shoulder and saw that the unfamiliar girl was taking notice of them. "Who is that, anyways?"

"Misaki-chi is my cousin," Sayuki explained. "On my father's side. They used to live in Osaka, but after I went to America it was kind of hard for me to get in touch with her. That's why I haven't seen my other relatives in forever." She half turned and yelled over her shoulder, "Nee, Misaki-chi, Kuroki, I'm going back to Suigo's place now!"

All violent or angry noises immediately ceased as Misaki practically teleported over to Sayuki's side to hug her younger cousin.

"Yer adorable, yanno that?" Misaki grinned, giving Sayuki a painful noogie.

"Misa-ho is about as straight as a circle," Kuroki muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes. Misaki glared at the girl.

"Weasel Woman, yer goin' _DOWN_."

"You're coming with me, bitch."

Ryoma exchanged glances with Sayuki as Misaki abandoned them to attack Kuroki.

"Bleh," Sayuki muttered. "Let's go." The two turned to leave when they suddenly stopped, nearly tripping over Kyubi and Kakura. The fox purred contentedly, ignoring the chaos his master was causing.

'_So how much longer until-'_

"GET THE BITCH!" Kuroki and Misaki shrieked.

'_... Does that answer your question?'_ Kakura murmured with a sigh. The two animals shook their heads and walked off towards their masters.

"Are... the... Chihuahua and the weasel talking?" Ryoma asked, blinking and pointing at the two pets. Sayuki did a double take and shook her head.

"What? No, of course not." She dragged him off away from school and the chaos. "Don't be ridiculous, Ryoma. I think you need to sleep."

"But-"

"Sleep. Now."

"... Fine."

"By the way, in case you were wondering," Sayuki added as an afterthought, "the Chihuahua is actually a Fennec fox named Kyubi, and he belongs to Misaki-chi. You'll get to know both of them better later. I'm not really in the mood to deal with her and Kuroki's insanity right now."

"I'll go with you to Watanuki's house," Ryoma suggested. "Kuroki's parents and 'Misaki-chi' will be coming too, right?"

Sayuki nodded and the two began speeding up as the fight behind them got louder.

* * *

"WEA-WEA, WHY ARE YOU SUCH A- are yer eyes always like that?"

It took Fuji a moment to realize that Misaki was speaking to him. With a sigh of relief, Kuroki turned to Tezuka and murmured something to him. He shrugged with a noncommittal grunt and she gave him a glare, which was sadly ignored.

"Aa... no," Fuji answered absent mindedly, watching Kuroki and Tezuka from the corner of his eye. The two's relationship was interesting, if not entirely convincing in the dating aspect. As he watched them, he also caught sight of the two pets creeping away cautiously.

"Yo, Kyu," Misaki called, and Fuji could've sworn that he saw the fox freeze and face palm. "Can ya find Sakkun for me? She ditched with her boyfriend and I didn't get a chance to interrogate him."

Kyubi squeaked and left reluctantly.

"Do you find it odd at all that they can speak to animals?" Fuji asked Tezuka in an undertone. Tezuka muttered back just as quietly.

"Hn... you get used to it after a while."

Kuroki whirled around, grabbed Kakura off the ground, and chucked it at Tezuka.

"STOP SAYING THAT. 'HN' GETS OLD AFTER A WHILE YOU KNOW."

'_Kyubi, you have it easy! I GET THROWN AT PEOPLE.'_

'_... Yes... yes I do._'

"GO KYU, GO!"

Deciding to break the chaos before it escalated into pure insanity, Fuji turned to Kuroki with his usual smile and said casually, "Saa, Kuroki-san, did you know that we have English homework today?"

"What- fuck. C'mon, Eis, off we go." Kuroki dragged a sighing Tezuka off to the library, and after some last few parting insults, there was only Misaki and Fuji left.

And Misaki was still staring at him.

"... Yes?"

She didn't answer... and began poking him.

Slightly annoyed now, Fuji opened his eyes to stare at her and ask, "What are you doing?"

"Whoa!" Misaki jumped back, eyes wide. "Ya opened yer eyes!" After a moment of closer inspection, she asked, "Are ya European or somethin'? Cuz yer eyes are blue."

"No, I'm Japanese," Fuji answered slowly.

"... Color contacts?"

"This is my natural eye color," he explained.

"Liar." She hopped back with a nonchalant shrug and continued, "Oh well, it looks cool. Well, I gotta go fuckin' catch up to the bitch and her boyfriend, so I guess I'll see ya later!" Fuji raised a hand in farewell before heading towards his own home.

"Now where the hell could Sakkun be..."

* * *

_Hypothetical situation:_

_You're born with the ability to completely copy anybody. Unfortunately, you're not born with the ability to control this power, so you immediately copy your parents and you can no longer "uncopy" them. This causes an identity crisis, which is only partly solved._

_Sometimes using this ability overworks your body, so you will gain amnesia or faint at random intervals. __The more you copy people, the more frequent these occurrences happen, until you are confined to a hospital to survive._

_Problem:_

_You're still copying your parents. There is no choice other than to "uncopy" them._

_Possible solution:_

_Apparently, consuming large amounts of sugar will temporarily revert you to your original self._

_Problems:_

_You have to conquer the problem of you becoming unbearably hyper after consuming sugar._

_Possible solutions:_

_Slowly build up your sugar tolerance until you are able to "uncopy" without becoming hyper. Or you can consume a lot of sugar at once, possibly "breaking" your sugar limit and "uncopy" that way._

_The decision is yours. What would you do?_

_-MysSno_

_PS Bad habit still exists. Help._

* * *

"... Does he think we're in primary school or what."

Tezuka raised an eyebrow at Kuroki's frustrated monotone. She sighed, exasperated, and threw her papers onto the library table.

**"**_Make a skit in English_," she muttered to herself. "Skits? _Skits? _This man is ridiculous. I refuse to do anymore acting in this school year."

**"**You don't have to act; you merely are required to memorize your lines," Tezuka pointed out.

**"**Yeah, but _what lines?_**" **Kuroki smacked her forehead in mock surprise. "Oh! That's right! _We have to write them on our own._That, Eis, is exactly why this is so retarded. And we have to do it by tomorrow? What does he think we are, miracle workers or what?"

**"**First it's primary school, next it's miracle workers... Make up yer mind, Kuro-baka."

Without looking back, Kuroki jabbed her elbow into the stomach of Misaki, who barely caught it.

**"**Our English teacher is freaking crazy," Kuroki continued on, pretending like she had never been interrupted. She jerked her arm away from Misaki and glared at the sheets on the table. "So I have Yukina and Tanemura in my group... Annoying."

**"**Don't ignore me, bitch."

**"**You'll have to cooperate with them to create the skit," Tezuka said, glancing in Misaki's direction to let her know that he wasn't ignoring her like Kuroki was.

**"**Great," said ignore-er muttered. "Do you have Tanemura's number?"

**"**No."

**"**Fuuuck you, Wea-wea."

**"**You know, I hate Chihuahuas," Kuroki suddenly said, casually resting her chin in hand. "They're loud, yippy little things that demand attention. They think that being loud and annoying will make up for their puny size and lack of good qualities."

**"**Oh, that is fucking _it_." Misaki dragged Kuroki out of her seat by the collar and marched her out of the library. Tezuka closed his book and adjusted his glasses with a sigh, grabbing his and Kuroki's things before following after them.

**"**Choking me," Kuroki coughed out. Misaki loosened her grip on the girl's shirt but continued dragging her off into the streets.

**"**Now answer my question," she growled, turning sharply. She whirled around and tossed the other girl, shoving her into the wall. "Where the hell is Sakkun?"

**"**Dunno," Kuroki answered, wincing as she rubbed her throat. "Thought she'd either be with you or at Suigo's."

**"**She's not at Sui-kun's," Misaki said. "Where the hell else could she be?"

**"**Do you know 'that place'?"

Misaki and Kuroki turned to see Tezuka throwing Kuroki's bag at her feet.

**"**She should be there if nowhere else," he told them.

**"**Great," Misaki grinned, cracking her knuckles as she turned to Kuroki. "Let's head there then. Even if Sakkun isn't there, I'ma beat the fuckin' crap out of you."

**"**I'd like to see you try..."

* * *

"I _will_ kill both of you."

**"**Sorry, Sakkun!"

**"**Psh, your little cousin's got you whipped," Kuroki muttered, but obliged and released her hold on Misaki's hair, pulling her other hand out of the tomboy's mouth. Likewise, Misaki let her foot down from Kuroki's stomach and stopped pushing the girl away.

**"**Tezuka-senpai, if you don't want to get involved in this, you should probably leave now," Sayuki sighed, not unkindly. He glanced between Misaki and Kuroki, who were now pointedly ignoring each other childishly, and opted to stay behind just in case they got out of hand again and Sayuki wouldn't be able to calm them down.

The youngest girl let out another huge sigh and sat down on the grass in the shade of a tree, pulling her laptop into her lap again. She opened its lid and ignored the glares that Misaki and Kuroki snuck each other, each daring the other to break the tense silence first. Tezuka ignored them all, walking through the trees, somewhat surprised to find a little path winding through the semi-forest.

It wasn't a very neat path, but a path nonetheless, easy to distinguish from the rest as it was the only dirt trail. Most everything else was covered in a plant of some sort. There must have been people who had come here before Sayuki and the others had discovered it, he decided, because this was a worn path that must have taken years.

He continued following the trail, enjoying the peaceful quiet noises of the forest. He blinked in slight confusion as the daylight began to filter in more strongly through the leaves again before realizing that the trail had taken him back out of the forest. Sayuki glanced up at him from the ground and turned back to typing. He was almost tempted to ask her what she was doing on the computer, but his silent nature got the better of him.

Instead, he turned to Kuroki and Misaki and found that they were still shunning each other, but seemed a lot closer to breaking point. He chose to spare Sayuki and himself from the oncoming rage and called to Kuroki.

**"**I need to go home now," he said, beckoning for her to come closer. Reluctantly, the girl left her sulking position to come closer to him, a curious look on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Kuroki stared at him, then shot a quick glance at Misaki. He inwardly sighed as he understood what she was implying.

Feeling awkward, Tezuka wrapped a single arm around Kuroki's shoulders and planted a quick peck on her forehead. Misaki snickered behind her hand and looked away innocently when Kuroki and Sayuki glanced at her. In Kuroki's case, it was more of a scowl than a glance.

Misaki burst out into huge roars of laughter, ducking to dodge the shoe Kuroki chucked at her.

* * *

"Sayuki, we're leaving."

The girl looked up, hissing and averting her eyes when they stared into the setting sun. Kuroki stepped in front of her so she blocked her.

**"**Okay," Sayuki answered slowly, still blinking to get back her vision. Kuroki waited expectantly and Misaki, a few feet behind her, waved impatiently at her cousin. Sayuki checked the time. It was high time that they went back home, and her laptop was on low batteries anyways.

Nevertheless, she told her friends to leave first, and they did, though reluctantly. With the little clearing finally quiet, Sayuki stretched and placed the laptop carefully on the ground before heading off into the forest for a quick walk.

She let her mind wander as the dirt crunched under her shoes. It had been a while since she had returned to Japan, but some things still seemed so different from when she was young that it almost seemed like an entirely different place. Then again, other than those few major changes, everything was exactly the same. It was most disorientating and messed with her sense of time.

Of course, there were Kuroki, Daichi, Kaze, and Suigo and their families and that was all familiar. But then she had met Ryoma and Momo and Sakuno and everyone else from Seigaku... It was impossible not to grin when you thought of them. Their optimism and cheeriness was a huge breath of fresh air from her time in-

Sayuki froze, her mind quickly calculating the time difference from Japan to California. If it was around sunset now in Japan, then it would be... after school had ended, and she knew for a fact that the one person who always checked her email after school unfailingly was-

She ran back to her laptop.

* * *

"You two are late for dinner," Kin chided as she shooed Misaki and Kuroki into the kitchen. "Now hurry and eat up. We're going to Suigo-kun's after you're done. His parents are expecting us, and Kaze-kun and Daichi-kun's families are already waiting there."

**"**Can we just eat at their house?" Kuroki grumbled, dragging her feet and plopping down into a chair. "It's not like Sayuki's gonna be there anyways. She's still out there and she probably won't get to Suigo's for another half hour or so. I will have to punch kittens if I have to stay with _this_," she jabbed her thumb at Misaki, "thing the whole time."

**"**Luckily, Suigo-kun's family doesn't own kittens," Gin commented. Kuroki snorted.

**"**Dad, your jokes aren't that funny."

**"**Hey, Dad's jokes are hilarious!" Akai leaped at her sister from the hallway and tackled her, promptly giving her a noogie as soon as their limbs were all untangled. "Don't insult your parents, sis."

**"**Listen to Akai's advice sometimes, even if she doesn't make sense half the time," Aoiri said, pulling Kuroki away from her twin.

**"**I'll try, as long as I don't end up like her." Kuroki glanced at Misaki to see why her rival and enemy was so quite and her jaw dropped when she found her already washing her bowl in the sink.

**"**... Damn," she said slowly, climbing back into her chair. "I forgot how much of a pig you are. How the hell did you eat all of that so fast?"

**"**C'mon, quit insultin' me and eat already," Misaki grumbled impatiently, hopping from foot to foot. "I haven't seen Sui and them in forever. Is that Kaze brat still fuckin' annoying as always?"

**"**Funny, he happens to be my favorite," Kuroki muttered, chewing a mouthful of food.

**"**Wea-wea, you and I just ain't ever gonna get along," came the reply with a shrug.

**"**That is the one and only point with which I'll agree with you on. _Ever_."

**"**Damn straight."

* * *

"Hey, Sayuki, finally back," Suigo grinned as he opened the door. Sayuki smiled in return.

**"**Dai, Kaz, their families, and Ryo-spect are all already here," he said as he led her to the living room. "Kuroki's family and Misaki-san are heading here soon. I'm not sure if Tezuka-senpai is coming though...?"

**"**Thanks, Suigo," she told him. "I'll meet you all in the living room in a few minutes, I gotta put my laptop away."

**"'**Kay, I'll tell them you're here." She left for her temporary room and he hopped into the living room where all the families were laughing and mingling, catching up with each other. The kids stood off to one side, having a quiet conversation about the only topic that the three shared in common: Sayuki.

**"**Sayu's here, she'll be in the room in a minute," Suigo announced, leaping onto a couch. "She's just putting her laptop away now."

**"**I'll go see her then," Ryoma said, straightening up. He got up from his leaning position on the wall and went straight to Sayuki's room, ignoring the snickers Suigo didn't even try to hide.

**"**Man, he's lovestruck," Suigo grinned. "Kinda sucks to be without Sayuki but..."

**"**As long as he's like _that_," Daichi continued, understanding his friend's train of thought, "we won't have to worry about her."

**"**Mm."

Suigo and Daichi glanced at Kaze in unison.

**"**... I'm going to stop trying to figure out where the hell you get all that Pocky."

* * *

Sayuki opened the door and immediately shut it behind her with a soft click before turning back around and placing her laptop on the desk. She slid into her seat and plugged the laptop in, letting it charge for a moment before turning it on.

She had just opened her inbox when there was a knock at the door.

**"**Come in!" she yelled, snapping the laptop shut. She turned around and grinned when she saw Ryoma walk in.

**"**Everyone is waiting for you," he told her. She shrugged and hopped onto her bed, hugging her pillow out of habit.

**"**It's not like Kuroki's here yet," she answered. "_Then_ we get to start. Actually," she added thoughtfully, "when Kuroki gets here, all hell will break loose."

**"**She and your cousin don't seem to get along very well," Ryoma said dryly.

**"**And Akai-san and Aoiri-san are coming along, along with their parents," Sayuki continued. "But yeah, Kuroki and Misaki-chi aren't on the best terms."

**"'**Misaki-chi'?"

**"**Nicknames from when I was little," she shrugged. "Anyways, I'll be there in a minute. I have to check my email first, cause I think I got a new mail."

**"**Mhm."

Sayuki stood up on her tiptoes to peck Ryoma on the forehead, and even then she was too short and missed, instead getting him right between his eyebrows. He stuck his tongue out in an arrogantly childish gesture and she scowled at him, cursing his new height. With the smirk still on his face, he left the room, shutting the door just as she chucked her pillow at him.

Grumbling to herself, Sayuki returned to her laptop and clicked on the email.

* * *

_Sayuki,_

_I don't see the point of you using "MysSno" all the time. It's not like Kuroki checks your email and will kill you when she finds out we're still penpals._

_And you still haven't lost your habit of phrasing things in a retardedly round about way. The hell is up with that? So annoying to understand you, you know._

_Aaaanyways, getting around to the point of your email. You and I both know that neither of us has the __patience to wait things out. Isn't it obvious what you're going to do?_

_As for your bad habit, just stop. Stop. You know it isn't good for you. We were both immature and stupid little brats when we did it. Try to think of anything else other than doing it. You're going to get in trouble with Kuroki or somebody else and they're going to be so pissed..._

_People actually care about you, you know. It's selfish to keep it up. If you're going to drop your copying ability, you sure as hell need to drop the bad habit._

_Don't email me back until all your "issues" are fixed. If you don't, I'm flying to Japan, and I don't care how expensive the tickets are or how much school I'll be skipping, I will fly to Japan and track you down and smack you and torture you until you fix them._

_I'll be expecting a reply within the month._

_And by the way, come visit California some time. We've all been wondering where you've been. Did you know that Jenny has a boyfriend now? His name is Terry, but we call him Tare-bear. He's adorable and hilarious, you have to meet him._

_And hey, if she's up for it and doesn't still hate me, bring Kuroki too. If you've managed to snag a boy for yourself, YOU ARE BRINGING HIM NO QUESTIONS NO PROTESTS NOTHING ASKED. Is it one of those three you always tell me about? Suichi and Daze or whatever? Or is it, what's-his-name, Rokkun?_

_Yep, I'm definitely expecting a reply by the end of this month. So get your problems fixed, girl. Do it._

_Love,_

_Caroline_

* * *

_Okay... So like Ryuu said above, I'm gonna be taking a little break from ODL for a bit._

_It's not that I don't like the story anymore, it's just that I'm completely stuck on the ideas for this story at the moment. You can take one look at chapter 9 and see how dead I was. It's utter crap. I'm sorry that that chapter is the first thing you have to see once I get off break, but... Hopefully I'll make up for it with an awesome chapter 10._

_This may or may not affect the timing of my next update. I'll try to recover from this (insert swear word here) Writer's Block before the next monthly update, but it turns out my summer is going to be a little more busy than I had first anticipated. There's been a little drama in my life (good drama! but still drama) and I have to deal with that too._

_So I'll try to get the next chapter up when my "muse returns" as Ryuu says, and sort all this drama out in my life._

_NOW GETTING BACK TO THE STORY... Caroline returns. :o I have nothing to say about Kuroki's parents except for that they're quite unique. And d'ya guys like Misaki? She's full of win, but I really like her relationship with Kuroki. xD So fun to write... Credits go to Sakka for creating Misa! I hope I did her justice while still horribly warping her to fit the story, sorry about that._

_Thanks for your patience, you guys. :3_

_-Air Beast_

_(KAI)  
_


End file.
